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The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology will launch two 2011 electronic health records certification programs on Oct. 7. The decision to proceed comes despite the lack of a final formal definition of meaningful use of EHRs, necessary for Medicare and Medicaid I.T. incentive payments required under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That definition won't be available until spring 2010.

CCHIT for 2011 will offer an updated comprehensive certification program, priced pending final board approval at $37,000 for ambulatory and emergency department EHRs and $49,000 for inpatient EHRs. The organization also will offer a "Preliminary ARRA 2011" certification program that focuses on the standards for qualifying for the Medicare and Medicaid incentives. CCHIT believes, based on an analysis of emerging recommendations from the federal HIT Policy and Standards Committees, that there is sufficient information to offer preliminary ARRA certification now.

If final rules on meaningful use require the introduction of new certification requirements, CCHIT will offer EHR vendors with preliminary ARRA certifications an incremental inspection at no additional fee to bring their certifications in line with the final rules. Preliminary ARRA certifications will cost from $6,000 for inspection of one or two modules up to $33,000 for more than 20 modules, subject to CCHIT board approval on Sept. 15.

CCHIT is moving now because of a "high risk" that providers will not achieve meaningful use to quality for the incentives in 2011 and 2012 if they want until late 2010 to implement certified EHRs, says Mark Leavitt, M.D., chair of CCHIT. A teleconference with industry stakeholders on Sept. 3 drew more than 700 attendees and indicated strong interest for timely certification programs, he adds.

The commission on Sept. 24 will post, at cchit.org, criteria, test scripts and policies for both certification programs. Online applications for certification will open on Oct. 7. CCHIT on Oct. 1 will offer a workshop for vendors and software developers at The Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, Ill. More information is available at cchit.org/education/GetCertifiedFor2011.

--Joseph Goedert