EHR Certification
For eligible professionals to receive meaningful use incentive funds, electronic health records (EHRs) must be certified per regulations put forth by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
Currently, ONC recognizes a variety of Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCBs) eligible to test for and designate that EHRs are certified for meaningful use quality reporting. These ONC-ATCBs are the only organizations which can designate that an EHR is certified for meaningful use incentive capture.
The meaningful use Final Rule established a temporary certification process that will transition into permanent certification status in 2012. That means that current ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification for meaningful use coincides with the Stage 1 meaningful use reporting criteria.
After that time period, increased reporting standards will commence as Stage 2 and then Stage 3 meaningful use criteria, still backed by ongoing incentive funding. In terms of reporting criteria, the current Stage 1 requirements are divided into core and menu items. With the commencement of Stage 2, all Stage 1 menu items are projected to become core criteria, as new criteria is also added, and another round of certification keeps pace.
ONC plans to sunset temporary certification on December 31, 2011, to allow permanent certification (completely administered by private entities already designated by ONC as certification testing bodies) to take over the process without ONC oversight.
The Final Rule emphasizes that ONC plans to continue to work closely with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to formulate the tenets of ongoing reporting criteria and certification.
Greenway's PrimeSUITE® 2011 is an ONC-ATCB Complete EHR. The 2011/2012 criteria supports the Stage 1 meaningful use measures required to qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This Complete EHR is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments. PrimeSUITE 2011 was certified on October 14, 2010, certification number CC-1112-699072-1 for clinical quality measures NQF 0421, 0013, 0028, 0041, 0024, 0038, 0031, 0032 and 0034.
Complete EHR meaningful use certification covers some two dozen reporting standards based on criteria developed by NIST and the National Qualify Forum (NQF).
Review complete details of PrimeSUITE 2011's Meaningful Use certification on CCHIT and ONC websites: http://www.cchit.org/product/onc-atcb and http://onc-chpl.force.com/ehrcert.
PrimeSUITE 2011 is also a CCHIT Certified® 2011 Ambulatory EHR, additionally certified for Child Health and Cardiovascular Medicine, with optional Advanced Reporting.
Through the ONC-ATCB Meaningful Use and the CCHIT Ambulatory certification designations, PrimeSUITE 2011 adheres to the full range of certification standards needed for the capturing of incentive payments and the daily EHR needs of healthcare providers.