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This is an idea expressed in another thread, challenging CCHIT with another certification.
http://www.emrupdate.com/forums/thread/45511.aspx
JLB wrote "How about calling it "SHOVEL"
Software for Healthcare Organizations EMR Voluntary Ligitamacy
This thread is to discuss what categories and requirements would need to be met to satisfy SHOVEL Certification. (We could also call it "EMRupdate Certification")
I'll start with a few requirements:
Interoperability
Many other categories to include for this proposed SHOVEL certification. What are they?
Ok, what about adding some some general categories such as form, fit and function?
In the CCHIT criteria there are breakouts in functionality, interoperability and security criteria and this makes sense if you are writing code to spec. But what about the users evaluation of what is presented to them as they use the product? What about overall usability, however that is defined.
We can agree that there needs to be interoperability as a background result of good software, but how does this represent itself to the buyer and user fit and function?
In the process do we need to bring forward user defined requirements vs.vendor defined requirements? And what are these requirements other than complaints as to failure to perform.
This has always been a problem in that standards tend to fight old wars and keep innovation at bay.
To be the most useful, standards and criteria need to be forward looking.(?)
UI is much harder to specify. I would be happy to help in this. However, I would have to stay out of UI, because it cannot be quantified, it is truly subjective.
In my EMR Road Shows I have observed the following:
1. We have a large crowd come to our booth, they love the UI.
2. We have many people who hate our UI.
3. The guy next to me has a totally different UI, maybe even Internet, or Template Text and form system. Several people will stop there, and others see UI and move on.
Features and functions can be quantified, UI's are subjective. For example I rarely perform administrative functions on a computer I prefer the CMD line functionality, going back to my NT.3.5 experience.
Others cannot even work at the CMD prompt and would run if they saw it.
Regards,Brendon
Not to belabor the point;
1 – Rule number one, there is no one good rule (10 Commandments were edit and expanded?).
2 – Rule number two, see rule number 1.
Much is in the eye of the beholder is subjective, see many comments on this board done by those justly proud of their opinions and tastes. But still shouldn't something embrace what the user sees and needs as a criteria?
Assuming CCHIT is an ongoing standards base, formulation of criteria, facts is facts type of process is there any reason to consider a CCHIT lite or any ancillary formulation that can evaluate what a product does and can do for the user?
Do users really care about HL7, ANSI X.12 or ISO 9000? and do they need to understand what these things mean?
One of the most useful outcomes of this form has been has the Price Comparison list which has a lot of comparable facts as to the pricing and features of marketed EMRs. Maybe the simple availability and update of the items list across the columns by a vendor would help make a vendor's product SHOVEL compliant?
Just a thought.
Letter written by Al to CCHIT
http://www.emrupdate.com/forums/thread/46564.aspx
Don't forget to sign in! This is the first SHOVEL initiative as well as the first time that emrupdate.com does something as a group, which is pretty neat.
It took me about 3 hours to review about 120 CCHIT posts to gleam the salient points that have been made, then i noticed that it couldn't be more than 4000 characters, so I had to cut it in half. There are a couple of minor grammatical errors that I need to update, but it's fairly direct and hopefully nonjudgemental.
Nick's idea of having a thread for signatures is great. It saves space on the letter itself and can be constantly updated with new signatures.
Cheers,
Al
Al Borges, M.D.
For reference, here is the CCHIT certification requirements
http://www.cchit.org/publiccomment4.htm
Graham http://www.synapse-ehr.com/ Synapse - the EMR for the superior physician
The CCHIT effect: why we need the SHOVEL initiative...
gchiu:That url 404s.
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