Final EHR Certification Bodies – Meaningful Use Monday

This seems mostly like a formality, but NIST has published the list of Accredited Testing Laboratories (ATLs), that are qualified to test EHR technology under the Permanent EHR Certification Program. You might remember that the permanent EHR certification program was delayed.

Here are the list of companies that are part of the final EHR certification bodies:

• Drummond Group
• Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT)
• ICSA Laboratories, Inc.
• InfoGard Laboratories, Inc.
• SLI Global Solutions

All of them are familiar names and ones that have been doing work with EHR certification the whole time. I think this is generally good for consistency of EHR certification. Can you imagine if you’d certified your EHR using one of the bodies and then that body didn’t get approved for the permanent EHR certification. Sure, the criteria are still the same, but there’s some differences in the processes each EHR certification body uses.

As most of you know, I’ve been a long opponent to EHR certification. I think it’s pointless and provides no value to physicians. However, someone in Washington put it in the HITECH legislation, so we’re stuck with the idea of a certified EHR. The good thing is that ONC and CMS have basically rendered it meaningless since every EHR vendor has basically become a certified EHR or will be soon. Of course, that also illustrates how pointless the EHR certification really is.

All in all, the EHR certification bodies are going to be around for a number of years more. I’m not sure if they’ll survive post HITECH. I just wish they were providing something “meaningful” (pun intended.