OpenEMR Certification
CCHIT Certification
Completion Barometer
Meaningful Use
| Funding | Requirements | Teams Identified | Development Started | Submitted to CCHIT |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
- For numeric reference, see the Meaningful_Use_Focused_Action_Items_for_2011
| Color Key: | In Progress | Coded | Completed |
Full 'C' Certification
This project follows successful Meaningful Use certification.
| Funding | Requirements | Teams Identified | Development Started | Submitted to CCHIT |
Project Tracking
- CCHIT_MU_2011_Project - Current meeting notes, target dates and SPRINT logs are located here as well as some team decisions about design choices.
Summary
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) has published ambulatory certification criteria on their web page: CCHIT Web Site - look here for for the most current information. CCHIT has been in existence since about 2006 and the criteria have been revised several times.
The United States Department of Health and Human services and the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology have published a definition of what they consider to be Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records. These criteria have divided into five very broad policies:
- Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities
- Engage Patients And Families.
- Improve Care Coordination.
- Improve population and public health
- Ensure adequate privacy and security protections for personal health information
Other References
Ronald Leemhuis did some early testing of how OpenEMR stacks up against the 2008 criteria: Initial CCHIT Functionality Testing
This topic had been much discussed by the OpenEMR project at SourceForge:
- http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=2154323&forum_id=202506
- http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=2042768&forum_id=202504
Organizational Meeting Notes
We have had four organizational teleconferences and here are the transcripts:
- CCHIT Organizational Teleconference #1 07/10/2009
- CCHIT Organizational Teleconference #2 07/14/2009
- CCHIT Organizational Teleconference #3 08/24/2009
- CCHIT Organizational Teleconference #4 10/24/2009
Criteria Breakdown Categories
The Criteria are further subdivided into the large categories of Functionality, Interoperability, and Security:
Functionality
The ability to create and handle electronic records for all of a physician practice's patients, as well as computerize the flow of work in the office. There are approximately 400 functionality criteria. The areas covered are:
- Organizing patient data
- Compiling lists
- Receiving and displaying information
- Creating orders
- Supporting decisions
- Authorized sharing
- Administrative and billing support
- Graphical reports
- Automatic alerts
- Maintaining documents and guidelines
- Disease and drug management
Interoperability
The ability to receive and send electronic data between an EHR and outside sources of information such as labs, pharmacies and other EHRs in physician offices and hospitals. There are approximately two dozen Interoperability criteria.
The broad areas required are:
- Laboratory results
- Electronic medication prescribing
- Exchange summary of documents
- Improve Population and Public Health.
Security
- Ensure adequate privacy and security protections for personal health information
- The ability to maintain patient information safe and private. CCHIT requires ambulatory EHR products to provide state-of-the-art technical capabilities.
The broad areas covered are:
- User Authentication.
- Controlling Access.
- Audit Control.
- Encryption During Transmission.
- Protection at Rest.
- Practitioner Data Integrity.
- Backup Strategies.
- Individual Patient Access.
CCHIT Security To Do List - Created by Visolve
Exchange Clinical Information
Provide Patient with Timely Electronic Access to Health Information
Provide Patient with Electronic copy of their Health Information upon Request
Capability to Submit Electronic Data to Immunization Registries
Capability to Provide Electronic Syndromic Surveillance Data to Public Health Agencies
Testing and QA for CCHIT Certification
HHS Certification
Current Status
Criteria Analysis
Description
At the end of December, 2009, Health and Human Services (HHS) released two important documents concerning EMR software:
- Interim Final Rule (Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology)
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program)
These documents outline the requirements that EMR software must meet, and what the medical practices and hospitals themselves must do in order to be eligible for the ARRA EHR incentive payments.
Certification Criteria
The certification criteria is currently being reviewed.
Gap Analysis
The gap analysis will be started once the certification criteria have been reviewed.
Project Plan
The project plan will completed following the gap analysis.
Action Items & Backlog
The outstanding items for HHS Certification process will be tracked here.
