New Certified Health IT Mark from ONC

One of the keys to a good certification is good branding. Think about JD Power and Associates. When you see that brand, you know what it means and what it represents. For EHR software, ONC is likely hoping that their new ONC Certified HIT mark will do something similar for EHR software.

Here’s the mark you should look for to know if an EHR meets the 2014 Edition Standards and Certification criteria:
ONC EHR Certification - Health IT Mark

What’s in a mark? I think it currently serves two purposes. First, it says if that EHR vendor can help you show meaningful use and get the EHR incentive money. This is the most important part of a good mark. The second is that EHR vendors that have this mark will have conformed to the interoperability standards that are set in the EHR certification process. I’m hopeful that this is the most valuable thing that comes out of EHR certification and meaningful use.

The following is the full press release from HHS about the new EHR certification mark.

EHR products must meet standards and certification criteria to be certified

A new mark for certified electronic health records (EHR) technology was unveiled today by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The mark will appear on EHR products that have been certified by an ONC-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) and will indicate that the product meets the 2014 Edition Standards and Certification Criteria.

Eligible professionals and hospitals must demonstrate meaningful use of EHR technology that has been certified under the ONC Health Information Technology (HIT) Certification Program to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payments.

“We’ve reached the tipping point of doctors adopting electronic health record systems and using them to improve patient care,” said Farzad Mostashari, M.D., national coordinator for health information technology. “The use of the ONC Certified HIT mark will help to assure them that the EHR they have purchased will support them in meeting the Meaningful Use requirements.”

Electronic health records technology may be certified by one of four ONC-ACBs accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and authorized by ONC. The mark is a visual cue that the product – whether a complete EHR, an EHR module or another type of health IT product – meets ONC’s applicable certification criteria and can achieve interoperability, functionality and security. For example, the criteria include such requirements as computerized provider order entry (CPOE), drug to drug and drug-allergy checks, and the capability to coordinate clinical information to help improve the quality of patient care, among others.

When the mark is associated with a certified “Complete EHR” it means that the EHR technology can be used without modification to achieve Meaningful Use. A certified EHR module may be combined with other modules to make a complete system. Some modules may include the ability to:

  • ·         Create a standard patient summary care record;
  • ·         Securely transmit summary care records using Direct, a tool created through an ONC-led collaboration with broad health IT industry participation, that allows for the secure exchange of health information over the Internet; and
  • ·         Provide patients with online access to view, download, and transmit their health information to destinations of their choice.

ONC-ACBs will begin to issue the mark to certified EHR products immediately. To learn more about the terms and use of the mark, click here.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

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