ONC Issues Final Rule for Permanent Certification Program for Health
Information Technology
Steps to create permanent
health IT certification program underway
The Office
of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
today issued a final rule to establish the permanent certification
program for health information technology. The permanent
certification program provides new features that will enhance the
certification of health information technology, including increasing the
comprehensiveness, transparency, reliability, and efficiency of the
current processes used for the certification of electronic health record
(EHR) technology. Meaningful use of "Certified EHR
Technology" is a core requirement for eligible health care providers who
seek to qualify to receive incentive payments under the Medicare and
Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs as authorized by
the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health
(HITECH) Act.
"This final rule completes the
two-phased approach ONC began with the proposed rule issued in Spring
2010 and includes several important improvements to our certification
processes," said David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., national coordinator
for health information technology. "Our goal is to make the
transition to the permanent certification program as seamless as
possible."
The temporary certification program,
established through a final rule published on June 24, 2010, will
continue to be in effect until it sunsets on December 31, 2011, or at a
later date when the processes necessary for the permanent certification
program to operate are completed. ONC expects to stand-up the
programmatic activities necessary to implement the permanent
certification program throughout 2011.
Features of the permanent certification program
include:
Organizations must first be accredited in order to
test and/or certify health information
technology;
Certification bodies authorized by the National
Coordinator (ONC-Authorized Certification Bodies or ONC-ACBs) are
required to conduct post-certification surveillance;
and
ONC-ACBs are permitted to perform "gap
certification."
As proposed, ONC will
request that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
through its National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP)
develop a laboratory accreditation program for organizations to be
accredited to test health information technology for purposes of the
permanent certification program. Based on NIST's technical
expertise and the strong relationship formed between ONC and NIST during
the successful implementation of the temporary certification program,
the use of NVLAP is expected to enhance testing under the permanent
certification program and its objectivity overall.
This final rule is issued under the
authority provided to the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology in section 3001(c)(5) of the Public Health Service Act, as
added by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical
Health Act.
For more information about the permanent
certification program and the final rule, please visit
http://healthit.hhs.gov/certification.
For
more information about the Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology, please visit
http://healthit.hhs.gov.
