The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) on Tuesday announced the first ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) products to attain CCHIT Certified status. These products have been tested and passed inspection of 100 percent of a comprehensive set of criteria for, the agency said. Each system was tested on the following criteria:

• Functionality – setting features and functions to meet a basic set of requirements;
•  Interoperability – enabling standards-based data exchange with other sources of healthcare information; and
• Security – ensuring data privacy and robustness to prevent data loss.

Twenty EHR products achieved CCHIT CertifiedSM status after undergoing inspections (list is below). Inspections are continuing, with additional results to be announced at the end of the month and quarterly thereafter, the agency said.

"This seal of certification removes a significant barrier to wide-spread adoption of electronic health records. It gives healthcare providers peace of mind to know they are purchasing a product that is functional, interoperable and will bring higher quality, safer care to patients," said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt at the certification announcement.

The CCHIT CertifiedSM mark – a "seal of approval" – provides the first consensus-based, consistent benchmark for ambulatory EHR products. The certification criteria have been designed to ensure that products provide a broad foundation of functionality, will evolve to be interoperable with other systems, and include security features that protect the privacy of personal health information.

"CCHIT has simplified the selection process for physicians," said John Tooker, M.D., MBA, executive vice president and CEO, American College of Physicians. "We believe our constituents – and the entire healthcare community – should look to certification to help ensure their EHR needs are met today and to lay the groundwork for future interoperability."

Following are the approved vendors and system:

• Allscripts (HealthMatics Electronic Health Record 2006 and TouchWorks Electronic Health Record 10.1.1)
• Cerner Corporation (PowerChart 2005.02)
• Companion Technologies (Companion EMR v8.5)
• eClinicalWorks (eClinicalWorks Version 7.0 Release 2)
• Emdeon Practice Services (Intergy EHR v3.00)
• e-MDs (e-MDs Solution Series 6.1)
• Epic Systems (EpicCare Ambulatory EMR Spring 2006)
• GE Healthcare (Centricity EMR 2005 Version 6.0)
• JMJ Technologies (EncounterPRO EHR 5.0)
• McKesson (Horizon Ambulatory Care Version 9.4)
• MCS-Medical Communication Systems (mMD.Net EHR 9.0.9)
• MedcomSoft (Record 2006 (V 3.0))
• Medical Informatics Engineering (WebChart 4.23)
• Misys Healthcare Systems (Misys EMR 8.0)
• NextGen Healthcare Information Systems (NextGen EMR 5.3)
• Nightingale Informatix Corporation (myNightingale Physician Workstation 5.1)
• Practice Partner (Patient Records 9)

 
Conditional Pre-market Certification:

• Community Computer Service (MEDENT 16)
• LSS Data Systems (Medical Practice Management (MPM) Client/Server 5.5 Service Release 2.1)