Certifications coming for ambulatory EHR vendors

Coming soon to a happy vendor near you: The Certification Commission for Healthcare IT (CCHIT) list of the first group of certified electronic health record software vendors. Slated for a July 18 release, the list may help providers struggling with a somewhat fragmented vendor market. Two dozen ambulatory EHR vendors, each of whom paid a $28K testing fee, were put to the test during the first round.  Showing a gracious streak, CCHIT chair Mark Leavitt said that only systems that pass the screenings will be named.  (Vendors who don't make the list aren't as likely to tout it, so you may want to have your own copy in hand.)  The CCHIT will continue to test ambulatory EHR systems each quarter.  In the future, CCHIT will offer a similar certification option for inpatient IT vendors.

- To learn more about the CCHIT process, check out this Modern Healthcare article.
- Get some additional background on certification programs from the CCHIT site.