MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'cchit'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:12:06 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118745&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fo3AjHrDVXpM%2F You’ve undoubtedly heard the argument before: EHR certification is about assuring that systems meet minimum requirements for functionality and interoperability, but the certification process falls way short in terms of usability, privacy and security. But have you heard the argument from one of the ONC-authorized certification bodies? This is an excerpt from an e-mail I received today: Meaningful Use criteria have become a massive EHR certification driver for healthcare organizations. Hospitals and other providers rely on the criteria to ensure that their health IT systems meet minimum government-specified functionality and interoperability requirements to support Stage 1 of Meaningful Use.  Achieving Meaningful Use also ensures a health care organization qualifies for reimbursement... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118745 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:21:33 +0100 5118745 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960144&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FFICtFi3luZE%2F For those of you that are relatively new to EMR and HIPAA, you might not appreciate this post as much as long time readers of EMR and HIPAA. A few years back, I admit that I was pretty harsh on CCHIT and their EHR certification. I remember one guy stopping me at a conference and after realizing who I was asked, “so what’s your issue with CCHIT?” I was happy to answer that I thought they misled the industry (doctors in particular) by saying that the CCHIT certification provided an assurance that the EHR was a good EHR. They never came outright and said this, but that’s what EMR sales people would communicate during the sales process. In fact, EHR certification was incorrectly seen by many doctors and practice managers as the stamp of approval on an EHR being of highe... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960144 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:33:18 +0100 4960144 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653411&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FNeilVerselsHealthcareItBlog%2F%7E3%2FQsQyZBFhTqE%2F ICSA Labs, one of six ONC-authorized testing and certification bodies, has announced its first three certified EHR products: Modular certified EHR systems for eligible providers Colonial Valley Software Inc.: Lectronic Practice Suite v2.02.0.1 Design Clinicals Inc.: MedsTracker v5 OEMR: OpenEMR v4 Modular certified EHR systems for hospitals Design Clinicals: MedsTracker v5 ICSA Labs is one of six ATCBs offering EHR certification services. In that regard, I guess this means the notion of providing competition to the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has succeeded. (Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog) Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653411 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:03:04 +0100 4653411 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4540617&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FcP9YiHDQOlM%2F If you’ve been following this blog for a while, then you probably remember my many rants about the lack of value in EHR certification. In fact, Jim Tate asked me at HIMSS where my dislike of CCHIT came from. I think I told him that I probably got it from EMRUpdate. Certainly that’s where I learned a lot about EMR and EHR and certification in general. However, as I consider his question, my real distaste with CCHIT and quite frankly EHR certification is that it provides little to no value to doctors. Looking back at all the discussions I had last week with those attending HIMSS, I’m really happy to say that EHR certification was almost never a discussion. Pretty much everyone either was a certified EHR or was almost done with the EHR certification process (which is in line... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4540617 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:40:57 +0100 4540617 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4251161&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F12%2F10%2Fupdate-big-winners-from-obama-ehr-stimulus-hitech%2F I figured it was about time for me to do a post updating one of my top posts from 2009. This was a post I posted on February 19, 2009. It was REALLY early on in our understanding of the HITECH act and EMR stimulus incentive program. In the post, I predicted the Big Winners of the Obama EHR stimulus program. Let’s take a look at this list, see if anything’s changed and look at new additions to the list. First, I loved the premise of my original post that with the government spending $36 billion (in the previous post the estimate was $20 billion) there have to be some people who dramatically benefit from the spending. Here’s a look at my original list of Big Winners and my thoughts today: EHR Vendors – In the short term I think that EHR vendors have taken a real hit. Whi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4251161 Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:28:09 +0100 4251161 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4175822&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FJ_LbamIa0UE%2F In a move that we’ve heard talked about for a long time now, CCHIT has finally announced its site specific EHR certification. This is the EHR certification that hospitals that have built their EHR software in house should consider. The Certification Commission announced today a new electronic health record (EHR) certification program for hospitals that will be introduced at a Town Call webcast and teleconference Dec.1, 2010, and launched Dec. 15, 2010.  The EHR Alternative Certification for Hospitals, or EACH™ program, an ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification for installed hospital EHR technology, is designed to meet the needs of hospitals that have uncertified legacy software, customized commercial  products, or have developed their own EHR systems to suit their individual needs.�... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4175822 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:47:04 +0100 4175822 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133904&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F10%2F28%2Fproviders-awareness-of-ehr-certification-bodies%2F One of my readers recently linked me to an article from back in July that talks about providers lack of understanding of EHR certification and the possibility of EHR certification bodies beyond CCHIT. Here’s an excerpt from the article: The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has made it clear that it wants multiple EHR certification bodies, but that message apparently has not made it out to many physician practices. According to a survey by Burlington, Vt.-based consulting firm CapSite, 69 percent of healthcare providers are unaware that there will be alternatives to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology in terms of certifying ambulatory EHR systems. Additionally, 52 percent of the 850 providers surveyed incorrectly believe t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133904 Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:20:13 +0100 4133904 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045175&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FJVN8UNCY2hs%2F One of my more interesting meetings at AAFP was with a company called SLI Global Solutions. The meeting was so interesting, because SLI Global Solutions plans to apply to become an ONC-ATCB organization very soon. This coming after the announcement of the first ONC-ATCB certified EHR from Drummond Group and CCHIT along with the announcement of InfoGard as an ONC-ATCB and Weno Healthcare’s plans to become an ONC-ATCB. We obviously had a long conversation about the EHR certification, but suffice it to say that SLI Global Solutions is going full steam ahead to become an ONC-ATCB. It sounds like they’ve been doing a number of other certifications previously. They’ve even done some consulting work in healthcare. When I asked SLI Global Solutions what they thought would help th... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045175 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:06:18 +0100 4045175 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4025675&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FnRNX4nRO6Qw%2F Today, CCHIT announced their first ONC-ATCB certified EHR a day later than Drummond Group’s ONC-ATCB announcement. Although, CCHIT is announcing 33 EHR vendors (21 complete ONC-ATCB certified EHR and 12 module certified). No real surprises on this list. They were the previously CCHIT certified EHR companies. That gives us 36 total ONC-ATCB EHR right now (or 24 if we’re talking complete EHR certification). Here’s the list of Complete ONC-ATCB certified EHR: ABEL Medical Software Inc. ABELMed EHR – EMR / PM Allscripts Allscripts Professional EHR Aprima Medical Software, Inc Aprima athenahealth, Inc athenaClinicals CureMD Corporation CureMD EHR The DocPatientNetwork.com Doctations eClinicalWorks LLC eClinicalWorks Epic Systems Corporation EpicCare Inpatient – Cor... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4025675 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:58:31 +0100 4025675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4025677&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FLfE2rFKa5MI%2F Drummond Group just posted the news of the first 3 EHR vendors which have been officially certified EHR for the ARRA EHR stimulus money. Looks like Drummond Group won the race to be the first to certify an EHR. The interesting thing for me is the list of 3 EHR vendors that became the first certified EHR: PARADIGM (QRS Inc.) ifa EMR (ifa united i-tech Inc.) ChartLogic EMR (ChartLogic, Inc.) I consider myself pretty well informed about EMR vendors, but I only realy knew 1 of the 3 and I’d maybe heard of one other, but just by name. As all the ONC-ATCB certified vendors start completing their EHR certification, I think we’re going to learn about a WHOLE lot of EMR vendors that very few people knew about previously. I also find it interesting that all 3 EHR vendors have already upd... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4025677 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:59:41 +0100 4025677 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4013288&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FzYhWW6s3TUM%2F The good people over at >HITECH Answers must have more time on their hands than I do. They got on the CCHIT conference call where they talked about their newest ONC ATCB certified EHR program. Here’s a portion of the HITECH Answers summary which includes some CCHIT pricing details: The ONC-ATCB Certified 2011/2012 Toolkit will help prepare health IT companies and EHR developers for testing. You can purchase the toolkit for $1000. Pricing will be in tier levels and range from $8K to $34,300K. They want to do the testing in a single day. There can be an accumulative approach where modules can be certified and added to the current certification without having to retest previously certified criteria. It still feels wrong that they charge you $1000 for the toolkit you’ll need to use... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4013288 Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:46:15 +0100 4013288 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3983448&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F09%2F16%2Ffull-cchit-certification-estimates%2F I’ve written previously about the cost of EHR certification with Drummond Group and CCHIT. However, this just addresses the hard cost of certification that’s paid to the certifying bodies. This cost doesn’t take into account a lot of other costs associated with becoming a certified EHR like the cost to develop and test the features that certification requires. Keith Boone on his blog Healthcare Standards has done a great blog post that evaluates the other costs associated with certifying an EHR software beyond the fee you pay to the certifying body. If you’re an EMR vendor, this is an article that you definitely want to look at and consider. Plus, I’d love your feedback on things he missed or where he might have missed costs or estimated to high on costs. Here... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3983448 Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:26:22 +0100 3983448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3983450&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F09%2F14%2Fehr-certification-testing-dates-scheduled-into-november%2F I can’t remember when or where I saw it, but at some point I saw someone reference Jim Tate from EMR Advocate as the expert on EHR certification. I’d known Jim electronically for quite a while having followed his writings online and on Twitter. I even haphazardly bumped into Jim where we both looked at it each other and recognized our pictures from Twitter. After Jim stopped by to comment on my previous EHR certification post, I emailed Jim to ask him if he wanted to do a guest blog post for EMR and HIPAA. He is busy with 3 stage 1 EHR certifications this week, but did send the following info which I found interesting and useful. I’m also looking forward to taking a look at his manual on meaningful use. I hear it’s highly targeted at doctors and clinical practices w... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3983450 Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:29:29 +0100 3983450 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3969071&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F22Y9qkLZbrI%2F As I mentioned in my previous post about the race to be the first EHR certified (and the first ATCB to certify an EHR), there’s a lot more going on in the battle amongst the EHR certifying bodies. The first interesting detail surrounds the previous CCHIT certified EHR vendors. This turns out to be a really great move by CCHIT. A quick look at CCHIT’s website has 49 EHR products (or modules of products) that have been certified for either the CCHIT 2011 certification or for the Preliminary ARRA certification. That’s 49 pieces of EMR software (a few less since some are different versions of the same product) have paid $22k+ in order to be certified by CCHIT. I’ve talked to one of these EHR vendors and they said that CCHIT did a call with all current vendors and said t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3969071 Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:05:52 +0100 3969071 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3965520&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F09%2F09%2Fehr-certification-the-race-for-first%2F I have a lot more to say about EHR certification and the battle we’re about to see between Drummond Group and CCHIT for EMR vendors, but I’m about to leave for an interesting conference on meaningful use, EMR and HIE. Although, I did want to just start the conversation on becoming a certified EHR. It seems like the battle is just beginning to try and secure EHR vendors under a certain certification. One of the competitive differences right now is about speed. Which EHR certification body will be the first to certify an EHR under the ARRA guidelines. It will be a big PR move for the first EHR vendor and should benefit Drummond Group or CCHIT to be first. From the dates that I’ve heard, Drummond Group seems like they’ll be accepting applications for certification firs... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3965520 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:08:31 +0100 3965520 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3938404&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F08%2F31%2Fdrummond-group-and-cchit-become-first-official-onc-ehr-certifying-bodies%2F We finally now have the first ONC approved EHR certification bodies (Officially ONC-ATCB or ATCB or ONC Authorized Testing and Certification Body). The first 2 ONC-ATCB are very familiar names that we’ve been talking about on EMR and HIPAA for a long time: Drummond Group and CCHIT. In an HHS and ONC press release they also noted that “Applications for additional ONC-ATCBs are also under review.” Drummond Group has already posted information on their website about their EHR certification and testing plans. The most useful item is this 10 page EHR Testing, Pricing and Certification guide (PDF). Lots of interesting information in the PDF which I’ll likely talk about later. The pricing however is worth noting now. It’s on page 8 of the PDF document and has certifi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3938404 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:20:00 +0100 3938404 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3920934&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FCyvwPUFjAok%2F Alfred from Infomd.net recently made the following comment: If the product you use is CCHIT certified, it is a pretty safe bet to say that they will be certified under the Meaningful Use rule. Meaningful Use is but a subset of what it takes to become CCHIT certified Here’s my response to Alfred: Alfred, I don’t think that the new certified EHR is a subset of CCHIT. There are some similarities and concepts, but it’s not a subset. However, I think you’re right that many CCHIT certified vendors will become ARRA certified. Mostly because the EHR vendor that has the CCHIT certification has chosen to make EHR certification a priority for their company. So, they’ll likely make the ARRA certification a priority as well. It is worth asking if you want to be tied to an ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3920934 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:58:35 +0100 3920934 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3891730&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FGGkz5nWK29Q%2F Long time readers will know that I’m not a fan of EMR certification. It seems quite pointless since it provides no assurance to the doctor of anything of value. EMR Certification doesn’t ensure a higher implementation success rate. EMR Certification doesn’t improve patient care. EMR Certification doesn’t improve doctor’s bottom line. With that said, we’re still stuck with the term “certified EHR” in the HITECH Act EMR stimulus money legislation. So, EMR certification is going to be around for the foreseeable future. CEO Mike from Medscribbler EMR posted an interesting look at the cost of CCHIT EMR Certification and the impact that it could have on EMR vendor selection and long term viability of EMR vendors. I’ve included his comments be... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3891730 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:07:02 +0100 3891730 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3808735&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F07%2F26%2Femr-stimulus-qa-do-you-have-to-use-a-cchit-certified-ehr-vendor%2F AK sent me the following EHR Certification question: Is it necessary to get CCHIT certified vendor just because you want to qualify for incentives or regardless you MUST go for a certified solution? Because I make the case that one should go with the one that provides the most amount of value. You only need to use a certified EHR (doesn’t have to be CCHIT certified either, but HHS Certified) if you want to get the EMR stimulus money. The only caveat is that if you don’t show “meaningful use” of a “certified EHR,” then in a few years there are 1-5% Medicare penalties for not using one and showing meaningful use. However, many people strongly believe that those penalties will actually never be implemented. Of course, that part is just conjecture and may or... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3808735 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:46:35 +0100 3808735 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3718486&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FF5NSUkMgVQE%2F I found this interesting tidbit in the final rule for the EHR Temporary Certification Plan: “In the Proposed Rule, we stated that we anticipated that there would be no more than 3 applicants for ONC-ATCB status. Based on the comments received, we now believe that there may be up to 5 applicants for ONC-ATCB status. In addition, we believe that up to 2 of these applicants will not have the level of preparedness that we originally estimated for all potential applicants for ONC-ATCB status.” Interesting to hear that there are likely to be 5 applicants to certify EHR software. Of course, we know that 2 of those bodies are CCHIT and Drummond Group. I also know of one other, but I’m traveling and so I can’t look up the name. Although, I only know this other one based on a convers... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3718486 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:02:14 +0100 3718486 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3703007&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F06%2F21%2Fhhs-says-certified-ehr-available-in-fall-2010%2F Well, it always seems to happen when I go out of town on vacation that HHS finally decides to go to work and make some announcements. The final rule for the Temporary EHR certification rule is out and will be published to the Federal Register on June 24th. It’s non-final format is available at the Federal Register’s Public Inspection Desk. Does anyone else kind of squirm when they read about this final rule for a temporary EHR certification. Final and temporary just don’t sound right together, but that’s what we have. The Healthcare IT Guy attended an HHS ONC press conference and added a nice little summary of what was said: *As of today if you’re interested in being a certification body you must request the HHS Certifying Body application in writing *On July 1 ON... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3703007 Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:05:47 +0100 3703007 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3625624&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FJLmd9JK2w5A%2F One of the challenges of this blog is writing content that will be interesting and useful to a wide variety of readers. At times I think I assume that those visiting EMR and HIPAA have read my 770 previous posts and should have a good understanding about the EMR world. Of course, the reality is that many of the people visiting this site might only read a couple different posts. Even more significant is that they might only have a remedial understanding of EMR and in particular the EMR stimulus money. This leaves me with the challenge of keeping the long time readers interested and benefiting from the content I create while still helping the EMR newbies understand what they need to know. In that vein, here’s some questions that I got in an email about meaningful use and the EMR stimul... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3625624 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:34:30 +0100 3625624 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3545513&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FOon3kg0puYk%2F EMR and HIPAA Answer to EMR Stimulus Questions Today’s question comes from an EMR and HIPAA reader: If I may back up, I am not having much luck in finding how we, as a clinic, get ’signed up’ if you will for this program. We already have EHR implemented. We are a rural health clinic that accepts Medicare and caid. We have been told by our EHR provider that they are CCHIT Certified. From what I have read, we are likely eligible however not sure how to get started. Could someone please advise. Thank you Unfortunately, the answer to this question is that we still don’t know how Eligible Professionals (EP) or Eligible Hospital(EH) are going to be able to “apply” or “sign up” for the EMR stimulus money. I expect we won’t know all the details to actu... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3545513 Fri, 07 May 2010 14:59:24 +0100 3545513 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3490711&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F04%2F16%2Fadvice-to-karen-bell-cchit-head%2F I previously posted about the new head of CCHIT, Karen Bell. Most of you probably know that I’m not a huge fan of CCHIT, but I’ve decided that I’d like to give Dr. Bell some advice for CCHIT. Free consulting. How cool is that? Here we go… If Dr. Bell really wants to solidify CCHIT’s position in the EHR world she’ll find a way to show that the CCHIT EHR certification improves usability, EMR implementation success, reimbursement, etc. CCHIT has some vague terminology about the “assurances” that CCHIT certification provide. Unfortunately, they end up being empty assurances about things that doctors don’t really value. I’d be really impressed to see an independent study done on the EMR implementation success of CCHIT certified EHR ver... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3490711 Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:47:29 +0100 3490711 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3471884&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=35744&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fe-CareManagement%2F%7E3%2Flz5D9nw2Izc%2F We concluded our last post in this series with a blunt prediction that “key physicians will sit on the sidelines” and that clinician non-adoption of EHR technology is a potential “deal-breaker for the success of HITECH”. While this might sound like a criticism of the way HITECH has been implemented, it’s not intended that way — it’s a commentary on 1) the complexity and scope of change that will be required to make HITECH successful, and 2) the level of protective entrenchment existing American health care today. Rather, we believe that the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT – Dr. David Blumenthal and his staff — have done a superb job in interpreting and defining key aspects of HITECH legislation. We’re big fans. For those of you who have been fo... e-CareManagement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3471884 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:56:39 +0100 3471884 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3467848&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FJgEfzU3e3I0%2F As always, Chilmark Research has a nice post up talking about the new head of CCHIT, Karen Bell. You can see the official CCHIT announcement here. Chilmark brings up two interesting points about what he thinks we can expect from Karen Bell as head of CCHIT. Dr. Bell knows Washington DC and HHS quite well from her many years there. She is effective in a highly politicized environment and will be able to effectively lead CCHIT through that political minefield. … Dr. Bell will put up a Chinese Wall between CCHIT and the HIT vendor organization, HIMSS. She is fully aware of the perceived conflicts of interest between CCHIT and HIMSS and will seek to create some distance between these two organizations. I first must say that the first part is a really smart move by CCHIT. I’d always... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3467848 Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:58:57 +0100 3467848 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3432994&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=35744&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fe-CareManagement%2F%7E3%2FXOreo-ruc8w%2F by Vince Kuraitis JD, MBA and David C. Kibbe MD, MBA  The rationale for hospitals having to play in the HITECH game is straightforward: the financial carrots through 2015 are helpful, and the financial sticks after 2015 will be very painful. We’ll discuss: Financial Impacts on Hospitals Survey Data Showing Hospitals Will Play Why Success is Not Guaranteed Financial Impacts on Hospitals Even prior to HITECH, most hospital executives already had passed the threshold decision and concluded that they need to implement EHR technology. Thus, the issue for most hospitals isn’t “whether” to implement EHR technology, but “when”, “at what cost”, and “how”. (more…) Article Series - Is HITECH Working?Is HITECH Working? #1: Hospitals are grumbling but are playing in th... e-CareManagement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3432994 Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:00:53 +0100 3432994 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3403971&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F03%2F16%2Fthoughts-on-ehr-certification-criteria-interim-final-rule%2F Time for a break from the regularly scheduled HIMSS programming (sorry there’s just a lot of HIMSS content to still be published) for some thoughts and comments on the EHR Certification Interim Final rule. What can I say? I was inspired by CCHIT’s comments on the EHR Certification criteria. First, since I mentioned CCHIT’s comments, I have to admit that I think that CCHIT made some very reasonable comments. I’m not sure I really disagree with any of the detailed points that they offer in their comments. What’s probably most interesting in CCHIT’s comments is the last two sections where they talk about the adverse impacts that this rule is likely to have on small EMR vendors and more importantly, small healthcare facilities. I’m not sure I agree com... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3403971 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:29:17 +0100 3403971 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3370355&cid=t_160678_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F03%2Fthird-party-reviews-of-devices-come.html This WSJ article caught my eye:Third-Party Reviews of Devices Come Under Scrutiny at the FDA March 15, 2010By ALICIA MUNDY and JARED A. FAVOLEWASHINGTON—When medical-equipment makers like Philips Electronics NV, Siemens AG and General Electric Co. need approval for some new devices, they don't always have to start at the Food and Drug Administration. They can pay companies to do the reviews, which are then routinely approved by FDA officials most of the time.Now this third-party outsourcing program has come under fire at the FDA, and the agency is weighing whether to end it. Agency officials question the quality of the reviews and whether they have served the program's original purpose: saving U.S. taxpayers money.The "real value to industry may be that this is perceived as a way to 'sne... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3370355 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:34:00 +0100 3370355 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3366285&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F03%2F11%2Fits-official-drummond-group-to-apply-as-ehr-certifying-body%2F The Drummond Group has just officially announced on their blog their intent to apply for and test EHR software to provide an alternative EHR certification to CCHIT. Here’s a few portions of their announcement: After a thorough review of the recent NPRM along with months of consideration, DGI is excited to announce that we will be applying to be an ONC-ATCB this year. As mentioned before, receiving the HHS requirements to become an authorized EHR testing and certification body was the missing piece in our decision to move forward. Now that we have that piece, we feel confident in announcing our intention to formally apply. In our review of the NPRM, we found it sound, reasonable and a big step forward for formal testing and certification criteria to support Health IT. We will offer ou... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3366285 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:35:00 +0100 3366285 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3366286&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F03%2F11%2Fallscripts-isnt-cchit-certified-2011%2F Sometimes it’s the little things you catch at an enormous conference at HIMSS that are the most powerful. One of those came for me when I was talking to the VP of marketing from one of the EHR vendors on the floor. This was one of the most interesting people I met with at HIMSS. As we were talking he kind of said off hand that one of the visitors to his booth had said Allscripts isn’t CCHIT certified. Now I should clarify. Allscripts was CCHIT certified back in 2007. However, they didn’t do CCHIT certification and in 2008 but they still haven’t done any of the 2011 full CCHIT certification or Preliminary ARRA certification either. As a side note, CCHIT has moved or taken down the previous years certification lists from their website (not sure why or where they moved... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3366286 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:56:39 +0100 3366286 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3346543&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=35744&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fe-CareManagement%2F%7E3%2FdV8NiFM3Ynw%2F Just the Facts  Certification Programs NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) Health IT, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services; March 2, 2010 Certification NPRM Facts-At-A-Glance FAQ   Bookmarked version of Certification NPRM (much easier to navigate) U. S. Department of Health and Human Services; March 2, 2010 Via OCCAM Practice Management blog, March 3, 2010   Commentary and Analysis   Proposed EHR Certification Rule Changes Game HDM Breaking News; March 2, 2010 “The rule mentions the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, but does not grant it any grandfather status…. So, while CCHIT appears to be able to continue its operations under the proposed temporary certification program, its future isn’t clear in the proposed permanent program.”  ... e-CareManagement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3346543 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:48:54 +0100 3346543 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3338283&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FhTWLewi4hmc%2F I must admit that I’m so happy to be home from HIMSS. It was a fantastic couple of days, but it’s always nice to be at home. Not to mention, posts are so much more fun on a regular keyboard with 2 monitors. Of course, my email box is full of the notes that I took during the various interviews I did at HIMSS. So, you can expect a lot more posts talking about the things I learned and saw at HIMSS. Not to mention a video series of innovative and interesting products at HIMSS (Sponsored by Practice Fusion). For my first post after HIMSS, I decided that I couldn’t help but post about the CCHIT town hall at HIMSS. I really said a lot of what I thought on my twitter account, but I’m sure that many missed it. So here’s a short summary of my thoughts with some other co... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3338283 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:35:31 +0100 3338283 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3302408&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2010%2F02%2F22%2Fonc-standards-make-cchit-process-irrelevant%2F FierceEMR has really hit the healthcare IT arena in force over the past 6 months. They even have a big party planned for HIMSS. I’ll probably be stopping by since it’s the day after the New Media Meetup at HIMSS. Well, one of my favorite healthcare IT writers, Neil Versel wrote an article for FierceEMR that really caught my eye. It was titled, “Kibbe: New ONC standards make CCHIT process ‘irrelevant’” If you’ve read this blog for any time you know that I’m an enormous fan of CCHIT (that was in the sarcasm font in case you couldn’t tell). I even declared the Marginalization of CCHIT back in July of last year. So, obviously I agree with David Kibbe’s assertion that the CCHIT process is irrelevant thanks to the HITECH act. A section ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3302408 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:29:11 +0100 3302408 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3291906&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fip9oyIdKuEg%2F We’ve had a lot of discussion in the past about the cost of EHR certification. It’s been one of the biggest complaints about CCHIT and their EHR certification. One of my readers wanted me to post again about the costs and how this will be such a challenge for new EHR vendors. First, the problem isn’t that a new EHR vendor couldn’t afford the cost if they wanted to pay it. The problem is that it provides very little benefit to the end users and at the end of the day the cost of the EHR certification would be passed on to the doctors who purchase the EHR. I’m going to use round numbers, but you can see the detailed CCHIT EHR certification costs on my previous post. Basically as it stands today, full CCHIT EHR certification will run a vendor $37k or more to becom... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3291906 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:44:06 +0100 3291906 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3123430&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FKAAM6UXxGDA%2F Brian at new EMR vendor Health Fusion sent me an email discussing some of the posts I’d done about CCHIT certification. In the email, he talked about how many doctors would ask him if his EMR is CCHIT certified. He then told me that his response to those doctors is that it’s not CCHIT certified, but it is is “Stimulus Ready.” I like the concept of “stimulus ready” instead of certified. First, because I think that CCHIT offers doctors no benefit (as is well documented in my previous CCHIT posts). However, more important is to consider what I think doctors are really asking. When a doctor asks an EMR vendor if they are CCHIT certified, what they’re really asking is one of two questions (or possibly both). 1. Can you give me some assurance that your E... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3123430 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:15:20 +0100 3123430 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3123433&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHfv36lPJG18%2F I recently got a very short email sent to me to a press release about the first EMR to receive the full CCHIT 2011 Comprehensive Certification. I’m not sure what they wanted me to do with the release, and so I guess I’ll do what I normally do and call it the way I see it. Does this EHR vendor consider the fact that they’re the first EHR to get the CCHIT 2011 Comprehensive Certification as a badge of wisdom that everyone will applaud? I’m guessing they’ve probably never read my past posts about CCHIT. Otherwise, I’m not sure they would have sent me that press release. However, I think it’s worth asking ourselves whether this was a smart move or a stupid one. Certainly they’re going to get some coverage because their the first EHR certified. Th... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3123433 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:12:34 +0100 3123433 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3105120&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F12%2F16%2Fall-i-want-for-christmas-is-arra-ehr-stimulus-answers%2F One of my favorite bloggers, Will Weider, had a nice idea with a post called “All I Want for Christmas is ARRA Answers.” I liked the idea so much that I decided to take it and post my own questions. Plus, some of his focus on hospitals which don’t interest me as much as ambulatory. So, here are the questions I’m hoping David Blumenthal and company can provide us for Christmas. 1. What’s the HHS EHR certification criteria? Will it be a complex set of criteria with little value (see CCHIT) or will it be a streamlined version that encourages EHR adoption? Especially interesting will be comparing the HHS criteria with the CCHIT preliminary ARRA certification. 2. How will HHS define “meaningful use?” Will they follow the meaningful use matrix as propose... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3105120 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:58:44 +0100 3105120 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3075609&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHJVrIHA5NhI%2F I’ve get all sorts of interesting emails sent to me because of this site. Many people send me questions and as much as I can I try to answer them. In fact, it’s usually quite fun if I have the time. This time someone sent a couple interesting questions about the EMR stimulus money and their practice which already uses a non CCHIT EMR. I thought the 2 questions she asked might be of interest to other readers of this site and so I’ve copied the EMR stimulus questions and answer below. Our medical practice has been using a non CCHIT EMR software prior to the stimulus plan. Can my doctors still qualify for the incentive? Absolutely!! CCHIT certification does NOT matter anymore for EMR stimulus money. Instead what matters is that the EMR is HHS Certified (or whatever name HHS ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3075609 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:27:17 +0100 3075609 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3056734&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F12%2F03%2Fsearch-for-new-cchit-chair%2F Now that Mark Leavitt announced that he was leaving CCHIT, it’s going to be interesting to see who will replace him as the Chair of CCHIT. Healthcare Informatics has an interview with CCHIT search committee chair and CCHIT trustee, Frank Trembulak (Geisinger Health System EVP and COO) that’s worth reading to understand more about CCHIT plans to search for Mark’s replacement. This is going to be an interesting change to CCHIT. Or will it be a change at all? What do you guys think, should I apply? Related posts:Mark Leavitt Leaves CCHIT Today the big news was that Mark Leavitt is leaving...CCHIT Town Halls and CCHIT Comments on New Jersey Bill For those that participated in the CCHIT town hall meetings...Health Search Engine – Competition with Google Health? An EMR ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3056734 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:25:02 +0100 3056734 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2995805&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F11%2F13%2Fmark-leavitt-leaves-cchit%2F Today the big news was that Mark Leavitt is leaving his role as chairman of CCHIT. Healthcare IT news reported on the announcement: “The board accepts Mark’s decision with reluctance but appreciates his commitment to overseeing a seamless transition,” said H. Stephen Lieber, chairman of the board of trustees and president and CEO of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). … Lieber said CCHIT trustee Frank Trembulak, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Geisinger Health System, will chair the search committee for Leavitt’s replacement, and that a firm has been retained to conduct the search. … “Having the privilege to launch and lead this volunteer-based, nonprofit organization has been one of the most r... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2995805 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:32:07 +0100 2995805 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2992724&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclinicalit.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F11%2Fbreaking-leavitt-to-leave-cchit-in.html The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology said today that Dr. Mark Leavitt will retire as commission chairman in March. He's been with CCHIT since its founding nearly five years ago. (Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog) Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2992724 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:18:00 +0100 2992724 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2971968&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F11%2F03%2Fnew-ehr-certifying-body-drummond-group%2F I’ve had real problems with the idea of there only being one EHR certifying body for a while now. I think competition usually brings the best out of organizations and forces them to be better than they would have been had there been no competition. Plus, it usually brings the price of things down also. With that background, I was very happy to see that Drummond Group Plans to Certify EHR software as well. One of the comments on this blog pointed this group out to me and I’m very happy to see that they’re planning to enter the EHR Certification fray. Here’s a short quote from their press release: Drummond Group has been approached recently by numerous EHR software and services companies that need to be certified. “Clearly there is a growing demand for EHR certi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2971968 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:41:28 +0100 2971968 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2958940&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FKaUm97p2pZM%2F Every couple posts I have to write about CCHIT or EHR certification. It’s one of my favorite topics to write about, and I believe it’s one of my readers favorite topics as well (at least that’s what traffic tells me). Today I want to take a look at what I believe is a new addition to the CCHIT 2011 EHR Certification. At least I hadn’t heard of it before. This is what CCHIT is calling Reference Site Verfications. From what I can gather they’re basically planning to verify that there are 2 live sites that have been using the certified EHR for at least 45 calendar days. For those new EMR, they can be certified with what CCHIT is calling “Pre-Market” status, but the EMR vendor must have 2 approved sites within 1 year of when they were initially certifi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2958940 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:17:44 +0100 2958940 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2950811&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FjRjMZKSjro8%2F I’ve been sitting on this post for a while. I figured it was finally time that we talked an interesting development in the CCHIT EHR certification: EMR usability testing. They first presented some of the details of this testing during the CCHIT training meeting. However, they also partnered with User Centric to formulate their EHR user testing and EMR and HIPAA has had a nice connection with User Centric for a few months now. First the good. I’m glad that CCHIT is venturing into the realm of EHR usability testing. I’ve often talked about CCHIT Certification being rather useless since just because a piece of software does a certain function doesn’t mean that it does it well or that the EMR is usable. In fact, some of the most “feature rich” EMR software i... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2950811 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:16:43 +0100 2950811 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2927423&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F10%2F19%2Foncs-guidance-for-ehr-certification-bodies%2F I’ve long been a proponent of having multiple EHR certification bodies. Competition does amazing things for a system and having one certification body would be a horrible thing for the EMR world. Certainly we all know that CCHIT is going to be there as an EHR certification body. The question is whether anyone is going to step forward and provide CCHIT some competition. Does anyone know of any groups that are applying to be a certification body? I’d love to know about them. Russ Reese from MXSecure linked me to a PDF file that describes the features that an ONC approved EHR certification body (PDF) should have. There’s some HUGE problems with this criteria. First and most important is that it basically requires the EHR certifying organization (they call it a Recognized Cer... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2927423 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:51:12 +0100 2927423 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2901707&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F10%2F16%2Fcchit-ehr-certification-criteria-problem%2F I’ve discussed a lot of problems (there are many) with the CCHIT EHR Certification in the past. However, one problem I’d never heard of was something that Lourdes from WebDMEMR said in a comment on my post about EHR certification recommendations: WebDMEMR’s development schedule has been on par with the Meaningful Use Matrix Tagged for CCHIT Reference. This document lays out a generalized view of the functionality necessary to conform with meaningful use, not CCHIT. I actually took a look at the Preliminary ARRA criteria, can believe that there are some criteria that only apply to client-server EMRs? With no option for web based applications? These test scripts are geared towards client – server based technologies, I found that many of the criterion did not make sense for a ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2901707 Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:07:44 +0100 2901707 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2890737&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHwOughndQNk%2F No one asked (well at least not publicly), but I wanted to share my opinions on what EMR vendors should be doing in regards to EHR certification. I guess you could say this is a small sample of the advice I’d offer as an EMR vendor advisor albeit not EMR vendor specific and with less detail. Take it for what it’s worth. If I’m an EMR vendor today, I’d definitely avoid going out and getting either the CCHIT Certified 2011 or the Preliminary ARRA 2011 EHR certifications. One reader of this site emailed me an estimate of $100,000 up front and $9,000 renewal fee per year for the CCHIT certifications they were considering. Certainly it could be less if you just go with the Preliminary ARRA certification, but regardless the cost is quite large. Instead, I’d take a m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2890737 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:25:41 +0100 2890737 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2876142&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F10%2F01%2Finterview-with-srssoft-emr-ceo-evan-steele%2F I’ve been finding what SRSsoft and in particular their CEO, Evan Steele has been saying about the ARRA EHR stimulus money on the SRSsoft blog called EMR Straight Talk really interesting. They’re an EMR company that I think has taken a different approach to marketing their EMR software. So, I thought it would be interesting to interview Evan on a number of relevant topics related to his EMR and the ARRA stimulus money. Let me know if you like the following interview and I’ll think about doing more of them. Describe what you define a hybrid EMR is. Hybrid EMR satisfies the demands of high performance physicians by providing process efficiency. This benefit is delivered through click minimization, ergonomic design, product flexibility and a non-proprietary, open software pla... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2876142 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:09:17 +0100 2876142 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2846460&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F09%2F28%2Fmeaningful-use-and-therefore-hhs-ehr-certification-criteria-will-dillute%2F In my ongoing series of posts from Marc Probst’s visit to Las Vegas (you can see my first post here), these next comments by Marc were really interesting. Marc said, “The guesses are good that CMS will dilute meaningful use.” I also asked Marc a question about whether he thought that the HHS certification criteria would be less than what CCHIT submitted as their “meaningful use” EHR certification criteria. He responded that the HHS certification criteria will be designed around the meaningful use requirements (which we already knew) and so it is likely that if the meaningful use criteria are diluted then the HHS certification criteria would be diluted as well. What do you think of the suggestion that MU will be diluted? Which parts of MU do you think will be ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2846460 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:05:09 +0100 2846460 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2828295&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FAKO5gAogCP0%2F John Halamka recently posted the following about whether doctors and practices should wait to purchase an EMR. Here’s his response: I’m often asked by clinicians and hospitals if they should wait to purchase an EHR because of the uncertainty regarding meaningful use and certification. I tell them to move forward now. The following is my response I made to him in the comments of his blog: Thanks for sharing the timeline[also included in the blog post listed above and similar to my previous post on the EMR stimulus meaningful use and certified EHR timeline]. However, I do disagree with you that people should be selecting and implementing an EHR now. There’s no rush to do this. I can agree that users should start reviewing the various EHR vendors and technologies that are av... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2828295 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:55:18 +0100 2828295 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2796530&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHwr9OYNwsyM%2F Time to take a look at the costs associated with the 2011 CCHIT Certification programs. If you’re not sure which programs I’m talking about, you need to go read my post about Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 and CCHIT Certified 2011. The following are the costs that CCHIT plans to charge for their 2011 EHR certifications: CCHIT Certified 2011 Ambulatory EHR – $37,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal CCHIT Certified 2011 Inpatient EHR – $49,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal CCHIT Certified 2011 Emergency Department – $37,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal CCHIT Certified 2011 ePrescribing – $18,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 1-2 modules – $6,000 with a $1,000 annual renewal Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 3-5 modules &... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2796530 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:52:03 +0100 2796530 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2793120&cid=t_160678_87_f&fid=34470&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehealthcareblog.com%2Fthe_health_care_blog%2F2009%2F09%2Fcchits-latest-gambit.html By GLENN LAFFEL Many of us have enjoyed a few good minutes of fun having our fortunes told by soothsayers who claim they can predict our future based on patterns of tea leaves in a cup or the playing cards... (Source: The Health Care Blog) The Health Care Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2793120 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2793120 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2793252&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F09%2F12%2Fpreliminary-arra-certified-and-cchit-certified%2F As promised, here’s my look into the two certifications that CCHIT is currently pursuing. I got most of the details of what they’re talking about from this CCHIT presentation. Basically, CCHIT plans to offer two forms of EHR certification starting October 7, 2009: CCHIT Certified 2011 and Preliminary ARRA 2011. CCHIT Certified 2011 is basically just a continuation of the certification that they’ve been doing for a number of years now. I won’t go into all the details about why this is a waste of money, development time and provides no improvement an EMR implementation success rates, but a quick search through my posts on CCHIT will be good place to start if you’re interested. Of course, the one difference between the 2011 CCHIT EHR certification is that they&#8... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2793252 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:32:43 +0100 2793252 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2793253&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F09%2F11%2Fhit-policy-committee-meeting-on-certified-ehr%2F I’ve been meaning to post about the HIT Policy Committee meeting for a month or so now. The reason I didn’t is that when I post about things like this, I like to make sure that I’ve had a chance to digest the information and provide some thoughtful analysis and commentary on what’s happening. Of course, thoughtful analysis and commentary takes a lot more work and time and so thus the delay. Enough about me… Yes, on August 14th the HIT Policy Committee met to mostly talk about what certified EHR will mean under ARRA. You can see the full powerpoint from the presentation here. Luckily, CCHIT (I guess they have an interest in the topic) wrote a pretty good summary of what was said about EHR certification at the meeting (with a few of my own modifications): There... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2793253 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:15:14 +0100 2793253 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2793254&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F09%2F11%2Fcchit-town-hall-meeting-on-preliminary-arra-certified-ehr%2F I’ll be honest with you. For my own health I took off the last month from reading about CCHIT. I guess the birth of my third child made a difference as well. However, I’d been getting some comments and emails lately about CCHIT’s new certification programs and so I had to go and take a look at what was going on. Well, let’s just say that CCHIT has yet to disappoint me. They are so full of CCHIT that it’s not even funny. The conclusions they come to are crazy. Ok, now that I’ve made my bias clear, take a look at some of the things they’re saying. One of CCHIT’s first conclusions made (in this blog post) after doing some polling at a CCHIT town hall meeting of vendors (mostly) is as follows: Only a small fraction intend to wait until final ARRA... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2793254 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:30:27 +0100 2793254 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2782124&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=35744&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fe-CareManagement%2F%7E3%2FrzJiYQ9ydd4%2F by Glen Laffel MD, PhD Many of us have enjoyed a few good minutes of fun having our fortunes told by soothsayers who claim they can predict our future based on patterns of tea leaves in a cup or the playing cards we’ve pulled from a deck. We pay a few dollars for the entertainment and if the fortune teller is skilled, we are temporarily impressed by his “insight.” But once we leave the carnival, we come back to our senses. Fortune-tellers can’t predict the future. With its latest announcement, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) appears to have entered the fortune telling business. And if information provided on blogs published by its founders is to be believed, some EHR vendors plan to have their fortunes told by the former EHR certification... e-CareManagement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2782124 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:43:16 +0100 2782124 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2712102&cid=t_160678_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F08%2Fcchit-has-company.html It appears CCHIT, an offspring of the large HIT trade association HIMSS, won't get its wish for Health IT Certification hegemony. I think the outcome of a multidisciplinary HIT policy workgroup's deliberations on this issue reasonable: Aug. 17, 2009iHealthBeat.orgPolicy Committee OKs Plan To Establish Multiple EHR CertifiersOn Friday, the [HHS] Health IT Policy Committee adopted recommendations that called for multiple entities to certify electronic health record systems, Health Data Management reports.The committee's certification and adoption work group issued the recommendations (Goedert [1], Health Data Management , 8/14).To receive official certification, EHR systems must meet a minimum set of criteria and achieve the "meaningful use" objectives of the federal economic stimulus packa... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2712102 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:53:00 +0100 2712102 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2705195&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=35744&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fe-CareManagement%2F%7E3%2Fu4izsd-pnv0%2F At last Friday’s meeting, the HIT Policy Committee adopted the recommendations of the Certification and Adoption Workgroup. Between the initial recommendations in July and the adopted recommendations in August, one critical word was added to the definition of “certification”.  That one word is “minimum” — and this one word expresses the correct approach and philosophy for the government’s role in the certification process for EHRs. In this post I’ll address why a “minimum” approach toward certification makes sense:  Why “Minimum” Certification is Right: More Like UL Why Current CCHIT Certification Based on Functionality Risks Irrelevance or Lock-in to Outdated Technology Why “Minimum” Certification is Right: More Like Underwriters Laboratories (more&... e-CareManagement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2705195 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:46:43 +0100 2705195 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2719788&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F08%2F14%2Fimportance-of-defining-meaningful-use-and-certified-ehr%2F John at Chilmark Research posted a note about the importance of how ONC and HHS define the terms “meaningful use” and “certified EHR.” I wanted to echo his comment so here it is: Note: We can not emphasize enough just how important these two terms (meaningful use & certified EHRs) are to the market. These terms will literally define the HIT market for the next decade and whether you are an HIT vendor or one looking to adopt an HIT solution, having a clear understanding of what these terms mean and their implications will be critical to your success. Basically, the $36.3 million in EHR stimulus money is dependent on “meaningful use of certified EHRs.” That’s a lot of money and influence on two terms. I hope as many people as possible will parti... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2719788 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:40:01 +0100 2719788 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2695447&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=38130&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tempdev.net%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D873 Practice Fusion recently posted on their blog “An Open Letter to ONCHIT Chief David Blumenthal”. The letter contains some pretty strong language, including that CCHIT and HITSP “…have been overly influenced by the same small group of special interests, and have created at least the appearance of conflicts of interest.” With CCHIT and HITSP having such close relationships with HIMSS, which is focused on futhering vendors by defintion, there is certainly a history of deference to furthering the goals of HIT vendors rather than directly improving functionality for physicians or patients. In addition, the letter goes on to make the compelling point that disruptive new-comers as well as the stalwarts of IT are being left out of the discussion. The letter states tha... Implementing EMRs blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2695447 Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:44:19 +0100 2695447 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2670798&cid=t_160678_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F08%2Fhimss-hospital-cios-should-not-only.html Conclusion, a leap of logic of gargantuan proportions: What is less clear at this time is whether the biomedical operations will be placed under the IS department for management. We believe that it should be , ala the movement of responsibility for telecommunications to the CIO when telecommunications and information technologies merged in the last 15 years . Au contraire ... it is very clear to those who know what they're doing that this is a very bad analogy and suggests HIMSS does not understand the vast differences between the discipline and functions of biomedical engineering, versus the IT department role of management of computer and other ICT's (information and communications technologies). I find this astonishing.Having done a clerkship in biomedical engineering in medical sc... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2670798 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:09:00 +0100 2670798 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2662558&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FgemlcZp0t6s%2F A relatively new reader of EMR and HIPAA, Michael Archuleta, sent me his notes from the Utah Medical Group Managers Association 6/25/09 where the keynote speaker was Marc Probst. For those that don’t know, Marc Probst is the CIO of Intermountain Healthcare (IHC). IHC is huge in Utah and I think it does pretty well in a number of surrounding states as well. Plus, Marc Probst is also a member of the HIT Policy Committee. You may remember that I’ve talked about Marc Probst on EMR and HIPAA a few times before. Anyway, I found some of the points that Michael captured interesting. I guess in the end I was interested to hear what Marc Probst was telling people. Michael Archuleta’s notes are as follows (published with permission and the emphasis added was mine to highlight some i... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2662558 Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:45:55 +0100 2662558 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2660800&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FIsicydEuGpg%2F Sometimes I feel like it’s my mission to combat the myths associated with EMR certification, selection and implementation. Ok, so maybe it’s mostly the EHR certification, but selection and implementation are closely tied to EMR certification. On that note… An EMR certification that verifies “minimum EMR functionality” DOES NOT equal a usable EMR. Yes, it’s a subtle difference, but an important one that far too many people ignore. Call it good marketing by the certification body. Call it a misunderstanding. Regardless, it’s scary how many people think that by testing for a “minimum EMR functionality” they are more likely to have a successful EMR implementation. The problem is, it doesn’t. If it did, then we’d have a lot more ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2660800 Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:58:28 +0100 2660800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2630206&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FWqNz6OcJbAw%2F Now that the HIT Policy committee has marginalized CCHIT EHR certification and proposed that HHS define the EHR certification criteria, it only seems reasonable to ask whether HHS will do a much better job than CCHIT did at defining “certified EHR.” What has me a little concerned is the process the work they’ve done in creating the meaningful use guidelines. They are too complicated and I believe will leave us with a lot of unhappy doctors. It makes me wonder if the same will happen with defining the EHR certification criteria. A few things do give me hope. First, the HIT policy committee’s suggestion is for the EHR certification to remain focused on just those things which are applicable to the EHR stimulus money. This should provide HHS with an advantage over CCHI... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2630206 Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:48:10 +0100 2630206 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2630207&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FhuGxwC03ONU%2F If you’ve read this blog for any time, you know that I’m not a big fan of CCHIT. Certainly, I can’t argue that CCHIT EHR certification isn’t a great marketing tool for EHR vendors. However, I strongly believe that the CCHIT certification gives doctors a false hope that the CCHIT certified EMR that they select will somehow have a higher implementation success rate than another EMR. If this were true, CCHIT would be certain to be proclaiming it from every channel possible. Instead, there’s no data that this is true and it’s sad that so many doctors think it’s the case. With that background, I was quite happy to see that the HIT Policy Committee basically marginalized CCHIT into a certifying body as opposed to a EHR certification criteria creator. I&#... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2630207 Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:48:17 +0100 2630207 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2621884&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FGsC5Ed1Fxbg%2F I posted previously a short summary of the changes to meaningful use in the final meaningful use matrix presented at the HIT policy committee meeting. As I’ve thought about these changes this weekend, I couldn’t help but remember the major problem I (and many others) had with the original meaningful use criteria being too complex. My argument then was that the 22 meaningful use criteria as a collective whole were too much for a doctor’s office to complete in the current time frame. Unfortunately, it seems that the HIT policy committee has chosen to only make slight simplifications of the meaningful use matrix for hospitals (For inpatient CPOE, only 10% of orders must be entered electronically) and has actually added to the EMR requirements for ambulatory clinics. I do thi... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2621884 Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:10:14 +0100 2621884 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2615394&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FnQZKzRDsdnY%2F I read that the HIT Policy Committee meeting that happened on July 16, 2009 was a “big one” according to Chilmark Research. He said that “the committee went from hearing revised recommendations for Meaningful Use, to recommendations from the HIE workgroup and lastly recommendations regarding certification processes for EHRs.” I was unfortunately tied up doing a presentation on ARRA EHR Stimulus money and so I wasn’t able to follow the event live (or on one of my twitter accounts). I know that Chilmark is planning to do some posts and I’m looking forward to those. I also found this short summary from John Halamka about the changes to meaningful use in the final definition: 1. For inpatient CPOE, only 10% of orders must be entered electronically 2. For pro... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2615394 Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:37:16 +0100 2615394 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2611022&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F-wwoZcLClgw%2F I just got done with a presentation in Austin, TX on EHR stimulus money available through ARRA. Overall it seems like the comments on the presentation were good and those in attendance seemed to appreciate hearing some candid thoughts about the EHR stimulus money and how they could obtain that money. I think I’ll share some of the other things I learned from the experience and thoughts I had while talking to people for future posts. As I promised those in attendance, here are the slides I used for my presentation: I want to thank GCS Technologies for inviting me to come and do this presentation. From everything I saw and experienced they seem to be a first class organization that does IT support the right way. If any of you have an organization or company that’s interested in... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2611022 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:46:00 +0100 2611022 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2606058&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FRpiwcTJwIEk%2F I’m in Austin, TX right now getting ready for a presentation tomorrow on ARRA EHR Stimulus money. I’m very exited about this opportunity and really hope that I can provide some value to those in attendance. If all goes well, then tomorrow I’ll post the slides from the presentation and possibly some thoughts about the experience. Thanks to this presentation I’ve been kind of busy and unable to post some new content here despite having a lot to write about. In the meantime, the EHR world has kind of been buzzing about the CCHIT gap analysis between the CCHIT certification criteria and the meaningful use matrix. You can check out the CCHIT annotated meaningful use matrix here. I’ve always had a hard time trying to reconcile the differences between what “cer... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2606058 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:03:15 +0100 2606058 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2591555&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=38130&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tempdev.net%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D835 ….we believe most of the measures proposed for 2011 would be difficult to achieve by providers who have not already begun EHR implementations. In a letter addressed to the Policy and Standards Committees of the Office of the National Coordinator, CCHIT stated that the draft meaningful use provisions for 2011 are overly ambitious. CCHIT also performed a gap analysis between their 2008 certification requirements and draft meaningful use provisions and came up with this neat color-coded version of the matrix. The largest gap is, not suprisingly, in reporting to Public Health agencies. I’m currently working on linking up EHRs to two registries and while the people on the registry side are great to work with, it is very much uncharted territory. While the CCHIT letter reads almost l... Implementing EMRs blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2591555 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:00:22 +0100 2591555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2584233&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=38130&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tempdev.net%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D833 Ready, set, STOP.. in the mad dash to meaningful use, I feel we’re stuck at the starting line. As I mentioned in my last blog, we’ve been working on a lot of big changes at TempDev – the first of which will be announced early next week. As we were making these changes, the draft definition for meaningful use came out and we didn’t make a peep. Why? Well, frankly there wasn’t much to talk about. The meaningful use matrix laid out the following high-level goals: Reporting on patient quality measures (which mimic existing PQRI initiatives) Providing patients with access to their electronic data Exchanging data with other healthcare providers Exchanging data with public health agencies Following HIPAA regulations These are great goals, but not suprising to anyon... Implementing EMRs blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2584233 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:53:51 +0100 2584233 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2570689&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FzIeL9Z2BXzA%2F I was reading through a short article entitled “CCHIT TASK FORCE TO FOCUS ON STIMULUS PACKAGE REQUIREMENTS” which is actually a bit misplaced since the article really seems to talk about the CCHIT Task Force for Long Term and Post Acute Care, but I digress. The thing that drew my attention was just reading through the process by which CCHIT puts together their criteria using task forces. I believe a number of people on my twitter feed are on or lead some of these CCHIT EHR task forces. I’d be interested to have a nice writeup from some of them on what it’s like to be on a CCHIT task force. How does it work? What’s the dynamic? If you’re willing to share, I’d love to hear more in the comments or drop me a note on my contact page. I also was trying t... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2570689 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:28:35 +0100 2570689 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510429&cid=t_160678_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Fmark-leavitt-head-of-cchit-behind-times.html Signs that a leader who alleges himself or herself to be objective and a scientist is, in fact, neither objective nor scientific include:Resorting to ad hominem attacks when questioned or criticized.Unfamiliarity with the current literature.Years-behind view of the situation on the ground.The head of CCHIT, Mark Leavitt, has penned the following at iHealthBeat (emphases and comments in red italic mine): June 19, 2009 - PerspectivesHealth IT Under ARRA: It's Not the Money, It's the Message by Mark Leavitt... Estimates by the Congressional Budget Office suggest the total incentive payout could reach $34 billion, although with expected savings the net cost is half that. Add to that another $2 billion that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT can use on various initiatives in s... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510429 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:51:00 +0100 2510429 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2511548&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclinicalit.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Fonc-to-meet-with-potential-cchit.html SEATTLE—Here's a juicy rumor from the first day of the sixth annual Healthcare Unbound conference: the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is planning a July meeting with several people considering starting up certification bodies to compete with the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.I say it's a rumor because I haven't been able to confirm this information yet. It does make plenty of sense, though. ONC head Dr. David Blumenthal wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine back in March that "many certified EHRs are neither user-friendly nor designed to meet HITECH’s ambitious goal of improving quality and efficiency in the health care system."This does not mean that CCHIT will get frozen out of the certification process, ju... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2511548 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:02:00 +0100 2511548 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2511372&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=38236&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcareitnews.com%2Fblog%2Fnew-approach-certification Last week I spoke with Mark Leavitt, the CEO of CCHIT, about his best thinking regarding certification in a post-ARRA world. In the past there have been 3 groups who have requested improvements to existing certification criteria: 1. Self developers who achieve a high degree of functionality through continuous improvement of home built software 2. The Open Source community 3. The Health 2.0/iPhone as application platform/multiple thin web-application combined to provide EHR-Lite functionality community (Source: Healthcare IT News Blog) Healthcare IT News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2511372 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:11:39 +0100 2511372 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2553121&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F06%2F19%2Freal-purpose-of-ehr-certification%2F I figured I’d round out my recent posts about the new CCHIT EHR certifications before moving on to meaningful use. There’s just so much to say about both issues. Taking a step back for a moment, I tried to remember why it was that we wanted to have an EHR certification in the first place. Certainly the reason we’re having this discussion today is because “certified EHR” is an important aspect of the ARRA EHR stimulus money. That’s taken what was previously kind of a side conversation in regards to EHR and launched it into the spotlight (only overshadowed by meaningful EHR use). So, let’s try and get into the heads of our politicians (scary thought I know) and think about why we might want an EHR certification and how the various proposed EHR certif... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2553121 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:15:18 +0100 2553121 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2523210&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FKuBag6Xn1Zo%2F After I wrote about the pros and cons of EHR-C, EHR-M and EHR-S certification I couldn’t help but ask why we even need EHR certification and meaningful use. First, it’s important to remember that the new EHR-C, EHR-M, and EHR-S certification are still just in the CCHIT EHR certification proposal stage. CCHIT could certainly change any of these pathways. However, even more important is that ONC and HHS could choose to use all, some or none (that’s unlikely) of these EHR certification pathways. What’s really interesting is the choice that ONC and HHS have to make in regards to these certification pathways. If they select EHR-C and EHR-M certification pathways, then they’re basically saying that they only care that certain features are available in the EMR softwa... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2523210 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:01:07 +0100 2523210 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2523211&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FL1TxS6USyvA%2F Earlier today I posted a general explanation of the various CCHIT EHR certification paths as they were talked about at today’s CCHIT town call meeting. If you haven’t read that, go read it first and then come back so you know what I’m talking about when I say EHR-C, EHR-M and EHR-S. Some of the comments made on the CCHIT town call today really got under my skin (imagine that). I just have to get them out there. Many of them I actually sent out on my twitter account in real time. CCHIT Does Not Protect Doctors The first one that reminds me of fingernails on a chalkboard is they repeatedly mentioned that the EHR-C certification was a protection for doctors. I’ve discussed this issue with CCHIT many times before. So, I don’t want to rehash it all here. However, I... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2523211 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:43:08 +0100 2523211 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2523212&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FSaiG6cX0Wv8%2F I participated in both of the CCHIT “town calls” that happened this morning and yesterday. I did miss the beginning of today’s call, but looking through the slides it looks like the presentation was more or less the same for both town calls. You can see the slides from both CCHIT presentations here. Between this and the HIT Policy Committee meeting yesterday there’s almost too much to digest. So, in my regular fashion I’m going to break down my analysis into lots of bite sized chunks. The biggest change that was proposed/announced during the CCHIT meeting was three EHR certification pathways: EHR-C: Certified EHR Comprehensive EHR-M: Certified EHR Module EHR-S: Certified EHR Site Basically, the EHR-C is the same certification that CCHIT has been doing since th... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2523212 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:26:45 +0100 2523212 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2511552&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclinicalit.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Fnj-bill-would-ban-non-cchit-emrs.html This is something I reported for the new FierceEMR last week: There's a bill in the New Jersey legislature that would effectively ban the sale and use of health IT products that don't carry CCHIT certification. My story got picked up Friday by iHealthBeat, where it quickly became one of the top five most-viewed stories and No. 1 on the list of most e-mailed. The story even drew a comment from CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt, who linked to a post on the commission's blog. There, I learned from a commenter that the bill made it out of committee on a unanimous vote. That's an ominous sign. If states start setting their own EMR rules, we'll be left with 50 different systems of interoperability, few of which would actually interoperate with other. We will have wasted billions of taxpayer money on m... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2511552 Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:55:00 +0100 2511552 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2469656&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F06%2F10%2Fcchit-town-halls-and-cchit-comments-on-new-jersey-bill%2F For those that participated in the CCHIT town hall meetings at HIMSS, it seemed like the writing was on the wall that CCHIT needed to offer some more town hall meetings. There was certainly a lot more to discuss. CCHIT just announced 2 more web “conferences” where the public will have a chance to comment on CCHIT. The first conference, “New Paths to Certification: Dialog with the Open Source Community,” will take place on June 16 at 1 p.m. EDT and focus on technology. It will address outlying concerns on certification of solutions that are licensed under open source models. Leavitt and Dennis Willson, the commission’s technology director, will be the moderators. The second conference, “New Paths to Certification,” will take place on June 17 at 11 a... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2469656 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:26:25 +0100 2469656 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2469658&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F06%2F09%2Fone-emr-vendors-comments-on-new-jersey-cchit-bill%2F Hopefully my readers aren’t tired of this NJ CCHIT bill. This will probably be my last post on the subject. Any future comments I’ll just update on my original post about the bill or my post on the Financial ties to NJ Bill Outlawying Non CCHIT EHR. I just had an EMR vendor who is based in New Jersey send me an email with the message they sent to Herb Conaway and their request to meet with Herb. I encourage other people to send in their feelings to Herb Conaway on this bill and I’d be happy to publish other people’s messages on this site if you’re interested. Here’s the email sent from the New Jersey EHR vendor: Dear Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. I would like to request a small 15 minutes meeting with you on the ASSEMBLY BILL NO.3934 wherein you have sugg... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2469658 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:23:42 +0100 2469658 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2469660&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F06%2F08%2Ffinancial-ties-to-nj-bill-to-make-non-cchit-ehr-use-illegal%2F I previously wrote about a NJ bill to make non CCHIT EHR use illegal. I got an email from one of my readers that I should take a look at the financial ties to this NJ bill to see how that might have influenced its creation. Turns out that Al Borg was already a few steps ahead of me and did the following research: Some data on all of this: HIMSS NJ capter- http://www.njhimss.org/abouthimss/abouthimss3.html information on NJ Rep Pallone- http://himss.capwiz.com/bio/id/387 (click on “PAC” then 2007/2008 to see the likes of Cerner ($1000), GEPAC ($5000), MS ($5000), Siemens ($6000), ACP PAC ($6750), AMA PAC ($7000). About the main sponsor of the bill- The Honorable Herb Conaway, MD tried to be elected governor in 2004 but was soundly defeated by his Republican rival. The Hono... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2469660 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:25:59 +0100 2469660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462987&cid=t_160678_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Fopen-letter-to-mark-leavitt-chairman.html A remarkable Bill (ASSEMBLY, No. 3934, STATE OF NEW JERSEY, 213th LEGISLATURE) has appeared in NJ that would prohibit the sale or use of healthcare IT not "certified" (i.e., feature-qualified) by the industry-founded and connected group "Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology" (CCHIT). The Bill calls for monetary civil penalties for such sale or use:A civil penalty or civil fine is a term used to describe when a state entity or a governmental agency seeks monetary relief against an individual as restitution for wrongdoing by the individual.I previously wrote about CCHIT in a series of linked posts that start here: A very troubling post about the CCHIT (Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology).I have now written the following open letter to Mar... Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462987 Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:11:00 +0100 2462987 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2463092&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fy1lGVaQbpCY%2F I just love reading what the “Jabba the Hutt EMR Vendors” (Definition of Jabba the Hutt EMR Vendors: Good in their day, but have gotten so big and bulky that they’re barely functional) offer as a perspective on what the ARRA EMR stimulus money will do. Check out a few quotes from this article which highlight what I believe is most Jabb the Hutt EMR vendors take on the ARRA stimulus money: “We anticipate ARRA to result in widespread adoption and use of comprehensive EHRs that support interoperability, decision support, quality reporting and clinical research,” said Justin Barnes, EHR Association Chairman and Vice President of Greenway Medical Technologies. “If we continue to work together in public and private collaboration, and build on the successes of ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2463092 Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:11:08 +0100 2463092 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2458196&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FHCshhTlb-xI%2F Graham over at EMRUpdate found a really crazy bill being proposed in New Jersey that would make the use of non CCHIT certified EHR illegal. Here’s the sections of the bill that seems to capture the crux of what’s being proposed: “· On or after January 1, 2011, no person or entity is permitted to sell, offer for sale, give, furnish, or otherwise distribute to any person or entity in this State a health information technology product that has not been certified by CCHIT. A person or entity that violates this provision is liable to a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 for the first violation, not less than $2,500 for the second violation, and $5,000 for the third and each subsequent violation, to be collected pursuant to the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,&#8221... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2458196 Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:26:42 +0100 2458196 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452785&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fu4oklT-xZlY%2F Back in February I posted a poll asking the question “Which EHR certification criteria should HHS use for the HITECH Act?” Of course, at the core of the question is whether HHS, ONC, David Blumenthal and co. should use CCHIT certification as the “certified EHR” criteria for obtaining EHR stimulus money. Here’s a look at the results from the poll: I will grant you that this website probably has a bit of a readership bias against CCHIT. However, there are also a lot of CCHIT certified EHR vendors who read this blog and so that would certainly bias the voting the other direction. With that disclaimer, I think that this poll shows a real growing trend to people wanting an alternative EHR certification to CCHIT. I’m sure that CCHIT will be one option, but I ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452785 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:52:14 +0100 2452785 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441897&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F01EqMxEr-pA%2F There’s a whole lot of discussion going on (rightfully so) right now about CCHIT EHR certification and of course the term “certified EHR.” I don’t know if anyone else has noticed or not, but there seems to be a bit of a growing movement towards not having ONE EHR certifying body (presumably CCHIT). A post over on John Chilmark’s blog highlights a really interesting point about having only one EHR certifying body. The point is that there’s little accountability if CCHIT is the only body that’s certifying EHR vendors. What reason would CCHIT really have to improve its certification if it’s the de facto standard for certification? CCHIT admitted that their CCHIT EHR certification wasn’t up to the ambitious goals of HITECH/ARRA. That doesn&... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441897 Fri, 29 May 2009 21:49:28 +0100 2441897 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441911&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclinicalit.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F05%2Fbelated-thanks.html Thanks to Jill Rose, editor of Inside Healthcare, for the shout-out in the May issue. This blog was highlighted in the "Blog Watch" section of the print edition, on page 6. Jill excerpted from my April 7 post on the festering controversy about CCHIT and its relationship to HIMSS. I guess the word "pseudononymous" got some attention, even though I now see the more correct word is "pseudonymous." (Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog) Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441911 Wed, 27 May 2009 21:25:00 +0100 2441911 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441902&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FWNbhZbtLO7I%2F A little while back, the Health Care blog has a pretty interesting post talking about how to define the term EHR. Normally, this debate would just be an academic debate which in the end nobody would really care about. You may remember my rant about EMR versus EHR which was really just me complaining the Google didn’t recognize both terms and send more traffic to my website (just being honest) along with me feeling like there’s little practical difference in the terms EMR and EHR(despite others disagreement). Instead of EHR being basically a marketing tool for EMR vendors, the HITECH act’s use of the word “certified EHR” has made the meaning of this term rather important. Well, at least it’s important if you care about the $18 billion that they plan on sp... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441902 Tue, 26 May 2009 14:33:34 +0100 2441902 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441903&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2Fgqld9bXkOww%2F In honor of Memorial Day, I took the weekend off. This ended up being a good thing since Saturday evening I was feeling quite sick. What a way to spend my time off, no? Not that any of you really care too much. However, I thought it was worth mentioning in case anyone noticed that no new posts were created. I also think it’s worth taking a second to honor our troops on this Memorial Day. I was able to enjoy a couple of really nice Memorial Day programs this weekend and it really helped me appreciate all that our troops do and have done to protect our country. One thought that stood out to me was a veteran of one of the World Wars talking about how people are so up in arms about the about 2000 lives lost in the current war. This veteran then went on to describe how in the World Wars m... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441903 Tue, 26 May 2009 06:21:27 +0100 2441903 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2424238&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F05%2F20%2Fhitech-operetta-funny-video-from-someone-with-too-much-time%2F Discussion of Obama EHR Stimulus Today the following videos came across my Twitter feed and... (Source: EMR and HIPAA) EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2424238 Wed, 20 May 2009 07:46:25 +0100 2424238 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2398889&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FUdOb_-EwkZI%2F In a recent post on the CCHIT website, they have the written testimony on electronic health records and “meaningful use” that CCHIT submitted to the NCVHS. Here’s a quote from that written testimony: During our initial years, certification served as a confidence-booster for providers concerned about buying EHRs that lacked the needed functionality, security, and interoperability. Financial incentives for EHRs then began to emerge, but they pale in comparison to the bold goals and nationwide scale of the Recovery Act. I love that CCHIT’s noble goals in the beginning were to be a “confidence-booster” for those purchasing an EHR. Sounds like a nice big marketing tool to me. I’m just really happy that they’re finally open to admit that was the go... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2398889 Thu, 07 May 2009 14:37:58 +0100 2398889 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2387030&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FpO91XPAtk-U%2F About a month ago I read an interesting post by Will Weider, CIO of Ministry Health Care and Affinity Health System, where Will is the first to announce delays in the HITECH Act (ARRA) EHR stimulus money. To make his case he gives two reasons for his belief: In my experience, government mandates delays are the rule This EHR deadlines are completely unreasonable HHS finally has Kathleen Sebelius in as secretary and so that should help move things along. However, I have to agree with Will that the EHR stimulus money will be delayed. I’m not really blaming HHS or ONC or any other government organization for this. The HITECH Act (ARRA) guidelines are so vague that they should take their time and make sure the $18 billion is spent wisely. Luckily, I feel like David Blumenthal seems to u... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2387030 Sun, 03 May 2009 15:12:10 +0100 2387030 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382593&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FX2ItRyp8LkA%2F Marc Probst, CIO at Intermountain Healthcare and member of the new Health Information Technology Policy Committee, gave a really interesting interview to Healthcare Informatics. I really don’t know Marc Probst other than what I read in this interview, but I do know something about Intermountain Healthcare (or IHC as it’s known in Utah). When I was in high school I actually worked for IHC spending one hour a day cleaning a local doctors office. I’m glad those days are over and I don’t think I did a very good job at it either. However, from that experience and also my high school friend’s dad being the CEO of IHC I got to know the company pretty well. I was really impressed with how the company was run. From the above interview I think that Marc Probst probably ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382593 Sat, 02 May 2009 23:11:05 +0100 2382593 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2381364&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34625&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclinicalit.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F04%2Fnew-programs-new-ideas.html This seems to be the week for launching new programs. A group called the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission is going to start accrediting ASPs and other hosted EHR systems. Government Health IT has a story, which asks the obvious question of whether this will compete or complement the efforts of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, but doesn't exactly answer it.Health EDI firm Edifecs has started HIPAApedia. I think that one is self-explanatory, but here is the press release.But the big news so far this week is the Markle Foundation has come up with a framework document for discussing and defining "meaningful use," which is the standards by which providers will qualify for health IT funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.... Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2381364 Fri, 01 May 2009 00:44:00 +0100 2381364 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2376300&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=38130&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tempdev.net%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D808 One of the hottest blog topics of late 2008 / early 2009 has been the cries of smaller EHR vendors that innovation is stifled by large EHR vendors and CCHIT. I’ll agree that some aspects of CCHIT are disconcerting, particularly the focus on ratcheting up functionality requirements that are largely irrelevant to the goals of improving patient care, EHR usability, and connectivity. However, the EHR market is clearly over-saturated with a tremendous list of EHR vendors . Having a quality product put together by a genius doctor, who used to be a programmer, is no longer enough. At this point, smaller EHR vendors need to be disruptive to capture market share; doing so will put the smaller vendors in the driver’s seat and make larger vendors sit up and take notice. Three EHR vendors ... Implementing EMRs blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2376300 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:08:12 +0100 2376300 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2367604&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2F39715QVQT7I%2F I’ve been meaning to post about the CCHIT and open source meeting at HIMSS for a while now and just haven’t ever gotten around to it. I did post my twitter thoughts on the CCHIT/Foss meeting, but I think there’s plenty more that could be said about that meeting. For those of you that missed it, you can find the audio of the meeting on the CCHIT website and I’ll embed the powerpoint presentation from the meeting below: My biggest complaint from the meeting was a slide that Mark Leavitt used to describe why he feels that CCHIT isn’t excluding the little guy. Basically it talks about the size and market share of the EHR vendors that have applied for CCHIT certification (you can see it as slide 12 above). I can’t quite place why this measure feels wrong, ... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2367604 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:15:34 +0100 2367604 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2365202&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emrandhipaa.com%2Femr-and-hipaa%2F2009%2F04%2F23%2Fpublic-self-certification-of-an-ehr-software%2F Why doesn’t a non certified EHR take the CCHIT criteria and do their own honest certification of their product? I’m not talking about going through and making sure that they meet the CCHIT criteria. Certainly, that’s basically what would be required for an EHR vendor to become certified. Instead I’m suggesting an EHR vendor be transparent about its strengths and weaknesses. An EHR vendor could take each of the CCHIT criteria and evaluate how their EHR vendor measures up to the criteria. Then, they could publish to the public information on how they satisfy each criteria. This public information could include details about how they met the criteria and information about how they’ve striven to exceed the criteria. Those criteria which the EHR vendor does not mee... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2365202 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:14:18 +0100 2365202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2348796&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FLNBjMoElZxA%2F I may have missed this somewhere else, but today was the first time I have found one of the major newspapers actually talk about EHR certification possibly being worse than what a competitive EHR marketplace can produce. You can read the Wall Street Journal opinion article to see what I mean. Here’s the conclusion which describes the problem with certified EHR: The stimulus hands the Obama Administration the power to define and approve “certified” records, therefore the power to create a health-tech monopoly. With stimulus money being shoveled out as quickly as possible, doctors and hospitals may end up prematurely investing in the costly systems that happen to have the government seal of approval — and in the process freezing out an innovative marketplace. Granted... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2348796 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:25:43 +0100 2348796 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2348797&cid=t_160678_113_f&fid=34634&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FEmrAndHipaa%2F%7E3%2FoYhaPuLtR9k%2F I recently got an email from an EHR vendor talking about how they just had a practice uninstall a CCHIT certified EHR and replace it with this EHR vendor’s EHR which was not CCHIT certified. This fact really wasn’t news to me and shouldn’t be news to anyone ready this forum. Although, if it is news to you, then know that this is a very common occurrence in the EHR world in general. What was really interesting to me was to actually see an EHR vendor put a marketing and PR plan in action which basically says, “We’re not CCHIT certified and doctors like our EHR software better.” I mentioned to an EHR vendor I talked to recently that I think there’s a great opportunity available for some EHR vendor to say that we don’t waste our money on CCHIT ce... EMR and HIPAA blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2348797 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:16:16 +0100 2348797