With the announcement of the final ruling on Meaningful Use, the world of health care has been working rapidly to assess the effects of the ruling. And many have been asking for CCHIT‘s stance on Meaningful Use.
Now, there are two opportunities to hear CCHIT Chair Dr. Karen Bell discuss Meaningful Use.
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CCHIT is pleased that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has issued the final rule to establish the temporary certification program for electronic health records (EHRs), and we are currently reviewing the rule to determine the impact it has on our plans for a final ARRA certification program. We will request an application to become an ONC Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB) as soon as it is available this week.
We remain confident that CCHIT will be approved as an ONC-ATCB because of our years of experience in this field and our readiness to meet the required accreditation standards. We originated EHR certification and have tested and certified hundreds of EHRs. This know-how will enable us to promptly adapt our processes to accommodate the separate purposes of certifying EHR technology for eligible providers and hospitals in accordance with the certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and providing additional assurance to a broader range of providers through our independently developed programs.
We expect CCHIT to remain in the forefront of EHR certification and look forward to continue playing a role in accelerating the adoption of health IT by making certified EHR technology available to healthcare providers.
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As we draw nearer to the final ruling on “meaningful use,” electronic health record vendors are working to prepare for the federal stimulus funds that will be made available. But how? iHealthBeat tries to answer that question in its latest podcast.
In an iHealthBeat Special Report by Deirdre Kennedy, experts discuss how health care providers are choosing vendors to help them meet the federal requirements for meaningful use of EHRs.
To listen, visit iHealthBeat.
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Today, Dr. Karen Bell begins her role as chair of the Certification Commission. I believe the organization and its volunteers will have an exciting future ahead under her leadership. There will be challenges, of course: when health IT adoption became a topic for Federal legislation and spending, it also became an inseparable part of the vigorous debate on how we can improve the delivery and financing of health care. But the potential opportunities ahead for the organization far outweigh the challenges. I will be following the progress of this continuing initiative with great interest.
Today also marks the day I begin the next phase of my life. Though some call it ‘retiring,’ I think of it as rewiring – a rearrangement of priorities, certainly not a retreat from being engaged with life. I have been privileged to work at a number of quite different careers, yet I consider the past 6 years at CCHIT to be one of the most rewarding and educational of all those experiences. It was particularly enlightening to experience what can be achieved by volunteers working collaboratively outside the bounds of the traditional employment model. I also gained a deeper insight into the complex pathways through which our government functions. All these lessons will be valuable as I tackle whatever lies ahead for me.
I extend my congratulations and thanks to all: our staff, the volunteers who have served on our work groups, our Commission and Board of Trustees, and everyone else who has contributed to our success in pioneering the way to certification of health IT.
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(From the American Academy of Dermatology)
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As the federal government works on finalizing the rules that will enable providers to receive ARRA funds, CCHIT is working to transform its certification programs to meet the needs of the health care community. The following podcast provides information on the updates to CCHIT certification programs that will reopen on April 7, 2010.
To listen, click the arrow above. Or use the menu above to download the file.
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Join Healthcare IT News from this year’s HIMSS conference as they interview CCHIT Chair Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, and CCHIT Executive Director Alisa Ray.
In the first of two CCHIT podcast interviews at HIMSS10, Mark Leavitt, MD, talks about the “unprecedented amount of financial incentives for implementing electronic health records” and the ambition of the meaningful use criteria.
In our second of two CCHIT podcasts from HIMSS10, Alisa Ray, executive director for CCHIT, talks about what’s new with the organization and how meaningful use has affected all healthcare IT industry stakeholders.
To listen, visit Healthcare IT News for the podcast with Leavitt and the podcast with Ray.
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Having reviewed the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding certifying bodies, we feel confident about our prospects of becoming accredited. Today’s release of the Certification NPRM is an important step that will reduce the uncertainty that the health care community has experienced while awaiting this additional information.
CCHIT has four years of experience testing and certifying EHRs, and promptly adapting our testing to the latest Federal standards. We have also been benchmarking our operations against best practices for certifying bodies, including the ISO/IEC accreditation standards, and we are well prepared. We plan to file an application with ONC as soon as they are ready to accept them.
We feel confident about the future, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue playing a role in accelerating the adoption of health IT.
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In a guest post on Health System CIO, Russ Branzell, CIO, Poudre Valley Health System, describes some of the collaborative activities in which CIOs are engaging to help address issues affecting health IT.
One example? Colorado:
When was the last time a majority of the CIOs and senior HIT leaders of the Colorado healthcare organizations met to work collaboratively on significant and urgent issues? Answer: Never!!! Now a new group, Colorado CIO Communication Collaborative (C4) formed in just six weeks.
For more information, read the post on CIOs coming together.
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Entitled “Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology,” the Interim Final Rule (IFR) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was officially published on January 13 and becomes effective on February 12, 2010.
But what does this new IFR mean to EHR certification? Join Kris Rebillot as she examines the impact with CCHIT Chair Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, and CCHIT Executive Director Alisa Ray.
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