How important is CCHIT certification? Is it a ploy to keep small companies from competing or does it gurantee certain standards????????
There are numerous factors that an EMR company must meet in order to become CCHIT certified. You can be assured that if a company has achieved CCHIT certification that they do indeed meet these standards which can be found here: http://www.cchit.org/ambulatory/criteria/index.asp
If a company does not have CCHIT certification, it usually means one of two things: They do not meet the standards or, they have not submitted their software to receive CCHIT certification.
There is a cost to the EHR/EMR company to be reviewed for CCHIT certification and some smaller companies may not be able to afford this cost but, I think the cost is well worth it. Once certification is received, in order to maintain certification, the companies must continue to meet the new/updated CCHIT standards each year. This requires continual programming updates which, for small companies, may also be cost problematic.
When it comes down to it, if you get a software that is CCHIT certified, they do indeed meet all standards.
This question has likely received the most attention of any other topic in the last year. Many of the regulars here have poured their heart and soul into posts either defending or cursing CCHIT. My advice would be to do a search in EMR Update of CCHIT. I have no doubt you will find enough opinions to make your head spin.
Let us know what your position is after your research! Good Luck!
I recently commented on the process over at the blog. It is a confusing process right now just simply due to technology moving so rapidly. The EMR vendors are racing to not only to attain certifcation but also stay on top of what the market wants and will bear. It's a bit of a catch 22 of sort.
There are levels of certification too to think aobut as well, and what operating systems to certify. There are 2 more days left to join the process as CCHIT is looking for volunteers for the committe if anyone is interested.
http://www.cchit.org/participate/volunteer/
The problem today is finding standards, which seem to be slowly either going away or ignored to some degree. The world of standards as we have known for years is changing, all over, not just healthcare and what kind of standards can be created is a big question. As an example, look at what the FDA is going through at present and their outsourced agreement with Anthem Blue Cross.
This is a hot topic for a couple reasons, EMRs already have the tag of being expensive for the physician and number two, the speed of technology and what is available in the market is adding to the task...with the addition of technologies such as Silverlight with a much dynamic interface and the ability to work with Microsoft Server 2008 to data bind information to a SQL server data base with both products enhanced tremendously with security, how long before the software could be deemed "outdated". I say this from a programmer's standpoint as the software side of things is also riding one big roller coaster...as stated in the article it is also a costly venture for smaller EMR companies to invest the money to carry the certified stamp of approval.
The CCHIT task force is also actively looking for Work Group Volunteers as posted last week.
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Good day all,
A product that is CCHIT certified means only that it has passed the CCHIT test script, the attestation documents have been reviewed and the company has forked over $28,000. It says nothing about the quality of the product, the usability of product, the qualty of the customer support, or the financial stability of the company. You can pass the test whether it takes you 12 hours to run through the test script or 1 hour to run through it. You can download the test scripts, requirements, etc. from www.cchit.org.
Unless you are required to use a certified product, do not restrict your search to certified products.
Dan
The value of the current CCHIT certification to the average practioner is minimal. Yes, the process addresses security and interoperability but it also fails to address a few areas that should be addressed. First, is content for specialties other than the primary care specialties. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is the portability of the data bases underlying all EMRs. Because of cost, may providers have elected to make their purchasing decision based soley on cost, only to discover, several months or years down the road, that the EMR they purchased no longer provides the functionality or is supported. There is no prcess for migrating data from one data base to another data base. The real value CCHIT could provide is to insure data mobility.
"The real value CCHIT could provide is to insuredata mobility."
Can you provide me one example of CCHIT insuring that data is mobile?
There are EMRs who declare themselves to be CCR compatible but cannot generate enough CCR data to be even considered slightly useful. How does CCHIT certification insure any better data?
There is no value in CCHIT. It's a mechanism for larger vendors to whittle away their competition under the guise of improving standards.
Until these standards are based upon evidence ( prospective controlled studies ), CCHIT is only another form of snake oil.
Graham http://www.synapsedirect.com/ Synapse - the EMR for smart users
I listed the main reasons on why I was opposed to CCHIT and why it made EMRs inflexible and more difficult to use here: http://www.emrupdate.com/forums/t/14365.aspx?PageIndex=2 It seemed to get Robert mad. Somehow, when I post something on CCHIT, as objective as it may be, I get whacked. <sigh>
I guess I must be doing something right...
Little Al getting whacked by the emrupdate"mother" shortly after his 1st emrupdate post years ago when he first told her that he thought that CCHIT was going to be bad for doctors, bad for most vendors, bad for the ethical competitive behavior in the United States. After more than 3800 posts, everything has come true, but little Al can't sit down due to the pain. Whose the man looking on? That's big bad Bob Larsen of NextGen. [:'(] (<- Nick, the crying facee doesn't work)
Al Borges, M.D.
● Oncologist in a Small Group Practice in Virginia
● My website URL: http://msofficeemrproject.com/
alborg: I listed the main reasons on why I was opposed to CCHIT and why it made EMRs inflexible and more difficult to use here: http://www.emrupdate.com/forums/t/14365.aspx?PageIndex=2 It seemed to get Robert mad. Somehow, when I post something on CCHIT, as objective as it may be, I get whacked. <sigh> I guess I must be doing something right... Little Al getting whacked by the emrupdate"mother" shortly after his 1st emrupdate post years ago when he first told her that he thought that CCHIT was going to be bad for doctors, bad for most vendors, bad for the ethical competitive behavior in the United States. After more than 3800 posts, everything has come true, but little Al can't sit down due to the pain. Whose the man looking on? That's big bad Bob Larsen of NextGen. [:'(] (<- Nick, the crying facee doesn't work)
Al,
Why bring me into your little drama? At least you could spell my name right.
As an eHealth consultant I have assisted numerous EHR vendors obtain and maintain both 2006 and 2007 Ambulatory CCHIT Certifications. I am currently working with several vendors in preparation for their 2008 Certification. From my experience it is better to have some standard rather than no standard. It is certainly true that Certification does not mean a product is easy to use, or that the company is financially viable, or provides adequate support. As always, due diligence is the key.
EMR Advocate:As an eHealth consultant I have assisted numerous EHR vendors obtain and maintain both 2006 and 2007 Ambulatory CCHIT Certifications.
When you make a sweeping statement like that, you open yourself to the criticism that perhaps you can't count very far!
Point well taken, though I doubt if anyone has provided more direct support to the ambulatory certification efforts of different vendors.
Or worse, as Acermed and others have proved. It does not mean that the software actually does what they say it does. The process amounts to a demo of the software, Acermed proved, you don't even have to have the functionality in place at any sites.
Shame on them, shame on our Government, for sponsoring such a failure. They had so much power to do good, and yet, the results are in.
Look at my early posts on this. The countless 100's of posts fighting with Al and others on the need for Certification. The endless ridicule I took defending its need as Physicians are getting ripped off and have no barrier.
It has failed to do what it intended to do. Yet we develop for Certification at some point, wonder what are chances will be.
I really wish they could have made a better effort on interoperability and true use of a EMR. We need something, they are obviously not the Holy Grail.
I think the industry is really looking for the fountain of youth, IMHO.