Currently in my house, we are in a yearly three-week cycle of gift-giving. It starts with Father’s Day, moves on to my wife’s birthday on the 30th of June and ends this coming Sunday with my son’s 4th birthday on the 4th of July. With a little bit of planning, some very cryptic questions from my wife and I back and forth to one another, and the realization that my son is currently in what I refer to as ”The Superhero Period”, everyone comes away happy (I won’t mention that the ice hockey video game my wife gave me for Father’s Day is frustrating the daylights out of me and leading me to use language not usually seen by readers of this space; how do you make that little glowing guy with the Finnish surname pass the puck  forward?).

While the spending going on currently in my house is mostly in the realm of personal happiness and general frivolity, medical providers are currently contemplating an investment of a more serious nature. With incentives of up to $44,000 from the government for the adoption of electronic health records on the horizon, and with the mandatory use of EHR following close behind, practices are on the brink of making what could become the most important decision of their careers.

On June 18th, buried amidst the Sturm und Drang of the latest Medicare Physician Fee Schedule fix, HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology released a final rule concerning standards for gaining certification of an EHR system. This sets the stage for the final rule defining “meaningful use” of an EHR system, which is set to be released within the next few weeks. This rule release can be considered the humble beginning of the providers’ decision process. 

The final rule for certification did not differ dramatically from the proposed rule, but there were some interesting tidbits. First. the final rule opens the door for more than one certification agency being involved in the process. Currently, the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) is the only certifying agency, but as of yesterday HHS began to accept applications from companies wishing to become certifying agencies. I’m interested to see how this particular corner of the process develops, particularly as it relates to business relationships between certification agencies and software developers. While the certification standards come from ONC, how will compliance to the standards be measured to guarantee transparency in the certification process?

Once the testing agency applications are approved and certifications are granted, ONC will keep a list of certified software products on its website. Even though the approved certification agencies will more than likely publish the same listing, I recommend going right to the source once this list begins to be compiled.

As October 1, 2012 looms in the distance as the deadline by which practices can begin to demonstrate meaningful use of EHR in order to qualify for the maximum incentive payment, there is a healthy allotment of time to choose the EHR system offering the best fit for practices. When considering such a life-changing investment of financial resources,  this time element presents itself as a positive in the process. With the impending release of the meaningful use rule, it is hoped that the map of the road about to be traveled is revealed to be the shortest distance between the two points of selection and implementation.

10:29 am, July 2nd, 2010 |