CERTIFICATION COMMISSION AGREES TO BEGIN CERTIFYING EHR PRODUCTS WITHIN ONE YEAR
Commissioners set ambitious agenda at their first meeting

CHICAGO, September 16—At its initial meeting on September 14 in Chicago, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) took several significant actions as a unified group dedicated to establishing a voluntary product certification process. The commission brings together national leaders, drawing from the provider, vendor, and payer communities as well as from government, standards development, and other key stakeholders.

The commission agreed on the following:

• Overall goal: To accelerate the adoption of robust, interoperable healthcare
  information technology while delivering value to providers, vendors, and
  purchasers and payers
• Initial scope: Certification of electronic health record (EHR) products for use in
  ambulatory care settings such as physician offices
• Timeline: A first-step certification process ready for pilot implementation by the
  summer of 2005. Second- and third-step certifications would be progressively
  more thorough and would follow in subsequent years.
• Certification roadmap: The commission will develop and publish a forward-
  looking roadmap of certification plans for several years into the future.
• Workgroup formation: Involvement and consensus across the industry are key to the success of the commission. As a result, workgroups will be formed to address various aspects of certification of EHR products once the commission completes its assessment of current industry efforts to establish standards for electronic health records.

“It was extremely gratifying to see such a powerful consensus emerge from the commissioners at this, our very first meeting,” said Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, commission chair and HIMSS medical director. “Our organizational structure, initial scope, and timeline have all been set, and we are looking forward to defining actual tasks and workgroups at our next meeting on October 25.”

To encourage the adoption of healthcare IT for improving care and efficiency, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Alliance) began forming the certification commission in July and are providing the initial funding and staff. Through voluntary certification of products, the commission strives to reduce the risk of IT investment by healthcare providers, facilitate the offering of IT adoption incentives by payers and purchasers, and ensure interoperability of healthcare IT products with emerging local and national health information infrastructures.

"The first meeting of the CCHIT revealed the excitement and necessity of establishing appropriate certification criteria for electronic health record technology - a critical step in assuring the compatibility and interoperability of health care information,” said Douglas E. Henley, MD, executive vice president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “Importantly, the commission has agreed to focus on EHRs in physician offices and the ambulatory health care environment. This is vital because this is where most people receive their care each and every day.”

Reed V. Tuckson, MD, who is senior vice president-consumer health and medical care advancement for United Health Group, said “The commitment of a broad and influential set of stakeholders in this process should attract attention and support at a critical moment in this field's history."

The current roster of commissioners follows:

Certification Commission on Health Information Technology (CCHIT)

• Suzanne L. Delbanco, PhD, Executive Director, The Leapfrog Group
• C. Martin Harris, MD, Chief Information Officer, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
• Douglas E. Henley, MD, Executive Vice-President, American Academy of Family Physicians
• John Hummel, Senior Vice President, Information Systems, and Corporate Chief Information Officer, Sutter Health
• Sam Karp, Director, Health Information Technology, California Healthcare Foundation
• Charles Kennedy, MD, Vice-President of Clinical Informatics, WellPoint Health Networks Inc.
• Graham O. King, Strategic Advisor, McKesson Corporation
• Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, Commission Chair and Medical Director, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
• Jane B. Metzger, Vice President, First Consulting Group
• Susan N. Postal, Vice President, Health Information Management Services, Hospital Corporation of America
• Wes Rishel, Research Director, Gartner, Inc.
• John Tooker, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, American College of Physicians
• Reed Tuckson, MD, Senior Vice President, Consumer Health and Medical Care Advancement, United Health Group
• Andy Ury, MD, Chief Executive officer, Physician Micro Systems, Inc.

Non-voting, ex officio members are:

• Lori Evans, Office of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator
• Clay Ackerly, Special Assistant to the Administrator for HIT, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Founding Organizations/Business Management Committee:

• Linda L. Kloss, RHIA, CAE, Executive Vice President, American Health Information Management Association
• H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, President/CEO, Health Information and Management Systems Society
• Scott Wallace, President/CEO, The National Alliance for Health Information Technology

About AHIMA
AHIMA is the national association of health information management (HIM) professionals. AHIMA's 52,000 members are dedicated to the effective management of personal health information needed to deliver quality healthcare to the public. Founded in 1928 to improve the quality of medical records, AHIMA is committed to advancing the HIM profession in an increasingly electronic and global environment through leadership in advocacy, education, certification, and lifelong learning. For information about the Association, go to www.ahima.org.

About HIMSS
HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology and management systems for the betterment of human health. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., and other locations across the country, HIMSS represents more than 14,000 individual members and some 220 member corporations that employ more than 1 million people. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its advocacy, educational and professional development initiatives to promote information and management systems' contributions to ensuring quality patient care. Visit www.himss.org for more information.

About The Alliance
The National Alliance for Health Information Technology is a diverse partnership of leaders from all healthcare sectors working to advance the adoption and implementation of healthcare information technology to achieve measurable improvements in patient safety, quality of care and operating performance. The Alliance works with healthcare and government leaders to help shape the policy environment and accelerate the implementation of world-class, standards-based information technology aimed at creating the most effective, safe, unified, and inclusive health system possible. Since its founding in 2002, the Chicago-based Alliance has helped forge consensus and advance progress on such important initiatives as barcodes and electronic health records. More information about the Alliance is available at www.nahit.org.