certification of rpms ehr

Certification of the RPMS EHR

Chris Lamer

CCHIT

CCHIT was the only certification body for EHR

CCHIT

EHR Certification Test Scripts

IHS obtained the test scripts for obtaining EHR certification

IHS RPMSCertified in 2008Under 2007 criteria

RPMS-EHR received provisional certification in 2008 which was good until 2010

Those really were the droids you were looking for

Some people felt that CCHIT was biased because they made the certification tests and administered it - there were concerns of unfair practices and CCHIT came under alot of scrutiny

ONC

The Office of the National Coordinator stepped in and created new rules based on the CMS documentation

NISTONC

ONC employed the National Institute for Standards and Technology to carry out their plans for EHR testing

NISTONC

Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCB)

New applicants came out to be credentialed to administer the certification exams to EHR vendors

NISTONC

CCHIT

CCHIT hopes to be the first certified ATCB

We have the plans for the new EHR certification, but the plans are incomplete. We’re waiting for CMS, ONC, NIST and the ATCBs to finish the plans out so we can be sure of what we need to do.

There has been alot of confusion about what is going on.

Did someone tell you This was easy?

And this has not been an easy process.

Leadership

Fortunately we have good leadership through people like Dr. Hays and Dr. Cullen

Subject Matter Experts

And there are a number of EHR SMEs out there that can help like David Taylor

CMS: Final Meaningful Use criteria

CMS should be ready to go in the Summer

ONC: Standards and criteria for certification

ONC will release their final guidelines to NIST shortly after that

ONC: Certification process developed

ONC has already released their requirements for ATCBs - organizations like CCHIT are already at work to become certified as soon as possible.

NIST: Test tools and procedures defined

NIST will finalize their requirements and make them available to the ATCBs and EHR Vendors

ONC: Recognition of ATCBs

ONC will need to recognize the ATCBs before they can begin testing - this is expected to start in the very early fall

CCHIT/ATCB: EHR Certification Process

IHS will be ready for testing by late fall or early winter so we can begin releasing the new RPMS and EHR updates to the sites to begin work towards meaningful use.