HOW MIGHT THE ROLE OF CCHIT CHANGE?
With EHR interoperability a top priority, a 2005 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services contract entrusted CCHIT with establishing health IT certification criteria to help promote standards-based products. The following year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued a Certification Guidance Document, which outlined the factors the government would consider in recognizing health IT certification bodies and explained the process for applying to become one. So far, only CCHIT has been deemed a “recognized health IT certification body” under this guidance document. Recent health care policy initiatives, however, are driving some changes in the certification environment. Under the HITECH Act, the federal government is pursuing two main health IT goals: making EHR data interoperable by establishing standards, and developing a national network for providers to share electronic data. The HITECH Act also made clear that the ONC planned to open th
