Certification for Electronic Health Record Technology Moves Closer

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced the final rule to establish a temporary certification program for electronic health record (EHR) technology, which was first proposed in early March.

The temporary certification program establishes a guideline that organizations will have to follow in order to be authorized by the National Coordinator to test and certify EHR technology, which is a requirement for providers that want to receive incentive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs.

EHR hopes to improve the quality of health care to patients through higher technological capabilities. The certification of EHR will make assure providers that the programs have been fully tested.

Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology, commented on the future of EHR and its implementation into health care.

“By purchasing certified EHR technology, hospitals and eligible professionals and hospitals will be able to make EHR purchasing decisions knowing that the technology will allow them to become meaningful users of electronic health records, qualify for the payment incentives, and begin to use EHRs in a way that will improve quality and efficiency in our health care system,” he said.

“We hope that all HIT stakeholders view this rule as the federal government’s commitment to reduce uncertainty in the health IT marketplace and advance the successful implementation of EHR incentive programs.”

Posted by Molly Mulrain on Monday, June 21st, 2010. Filed under Healthcare IT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry