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Certification
Commission for Healthcare Information Technology
(CCHIT) Organizational Structure
The Certification Commission
is a nonprofit organization, which employs a small
staff to assist in the coordination of volunteer
development efforts, communication and outreach,
and the administration of certification testing.
CCHIT’s volunteer Commission and Work Groups -
coupled with its Staff - are organized to fulfill
its mission to develop a voluntary, private-sector
certification program that becomes self-sustaining.
With over 200 EMR vendors,
finding the right solution for a physician practice
was challenging, so the certification process
provides a quality check on core functionality
and, in the process, has jump-started market adoption.
On the possible downside, adding feature after
feature may be overload for some practices, and
the certification process does not test ease of
use of these features. As a result, an EMR may
have more features than needed, and it may be
very inefficient to use (e.g., too many clicks
to enter or retrieve patient information).
Another gap is interoperability or healthcare
integration. Although the objective is to introduce
more healthcare integration criteria to the CCHIT
certification process, buyers will need to determine
the ease of interfacing with other systems such
as billing, laboratory systems, radiology systems,
etc.
Certification, consequently, is not the final
stop in selecting an EMR that may be right for
your practice. Key actions still need to be taken
in evaluating an EMR application. Suggested additional
evaluation steps are: |
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- Work with the application to determine ease
of use - get “hands-on” with the EMR
- Talk with existing users to determine experiences
- good and not so good - with the product
and customer support
- Create healthcare integration scenarios
to ensure that the EMR can easily interface
with other healthcare vendor or provider applications
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| As
one of the IT consultants in the article states,
“Create a scripted patient exam
for the vendor to follow when they demo the product.
Otherwise, it becomes just a show of bells and
whistles instead of showing you how it would work
in your practice.” |
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| CCHIT
Goals |
- Reduce the risk of Healthcare Information
Technology (HIT) investment by physicians
and other providers
- Ensure interoperability (compatibility)
of HIT products
- Assure payers and purchasers providing incentives
for electronic health records (EHR) adoption
that the ROI will be improved quality
- Protect the privacy of patients' personal
health information.
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Important
information about certification
CCHIT represents that the Certified products listed
on our website have been inspected against our
published Criteria, using our published Test Scripts,
according to the methods and policies published
in our Certification Handbook. CCHIT has not inspected,
nor does it make any representations, about any
other characteristics of these products or companies.
CCHIT Certified
Electronic Health Records Reduce Malpractice Risk
Physicians are all too familiar with the crushing
costs of escalating medical liability premiums.
While these costs are driven by insurance underwriting
cycles, the inherent risks of the insured, demographics
and past liability experience, they also can be
influenced by other factors, including the degree
of automation of the practice and the installation
of electronic health record (EHR) systems.
Even without definitive proof that EHR systems
and their clinical decision support capabilities
can decrease physicians’ malpractice exposure,
several progressive liability carriers are granting
premium credits to practices using them. Their
expectation is that the improved quality and safety
of care resulting from EHR use, will result in
fewer liability claims, all other factors remaining
equal from an actuarial perspective.
CCHIT Certified Electronic Health
Records and other Safety Enhancing Technologies
One of the biggest causes of medical liability
actions is the failure to consider all aspects
of the patient’s condition prior to making diagnoses,
or decisions to hospitalize, discharge, or to
obtain additional tests, procedures or consultations.
To become certified by the Certification Commission
for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHITSM),
electronic health records in both the ambulatory
and inpatient settings must address this issue.
Case studies of CCHIT
Certified EHRs in practice
Case studies bring CCHIT's work alive. As the
adoption of health information technology increases,
its influence will be felt in the daily lives
of doctors, nurses, and hospital staffs and, importantly,
their patients. Case studies tell those stories
in human and business terms that help us understand
the real value of a product certification program.
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CCHIT
Certified products for 2006 , 2007 and 2008
For this or more information click on WWW.CCHIT.ORG
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