Friday, July 2, 2010

ONC's Temporary Certification Program (provider-focus)

Today ONC conducted another teleconference to inform providers that have built their own solutions how they will be affected by the Certification Program.

Carol Bean, Director of Certification
Steve Pozniak, Director of Federal Policy

http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt has a listserv to inform us.

Both Carol and Steve said basically the same as yesterday.  See my previous post.

Each ATCB must provide testing for onsite (at the ATCB's facility) and remote for both development and deployment sites.   The deployment site is typically the Providers facility.

Adding functionality to your existing solution that has been certified does not require that you re-certify.

Questions & Answers

  1. What is an EHR Module?
    • It's anything that meets at least 1 certification requirement. For example, a Problem List could be an EHR Module (thought it's unlikely).  another example might be a List module (Problem, Medication, Treatment, etc) that too could be an EHR Module.  
  2. We use both a complete EHR and self-developed software.  Will we need to certify the self-developed software too?
    • If you have a hybrid then you'll have to test and certify the self-developed software.
  3. Does previous CCHIT certification flow-on?  Grandfather clause....
    • No.
  4. What is the process for getting certified?
    • That depends upon the ATCB.
  5. what if you've got 3 certified complete EHRs and you're using parts of each at different facilities.  Is it sufficient that the 3 EHRs have been certified?
    • A clear answer wasn't provided, in my view.
  6. Would self-attestation suffice?
    • You'll have to check with CMS - incentive payment question.
  7. What testing methods are required?
    • Testing methods approved by ONC.
  8. What if you're running previous version of certified EHRs or highly customized solutions, what certifications are required?
    • Get your system certified.
  9. What kind of cost are we looking at?
    • 14 applications were sent out - it would be great if all of them achieved accreditation. 
  10. Assuming the legacy environment and I get it certified, how long does the certification last?
    • Let's say you get tested at Stage 1 (10 measures) and then we set Stage 2 (13 measures), you'll then need to re-certify.

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