AMIA: Certification Process Insufficient

HDM Breaking News, July 15, 2009

The current approach to certifying electronic health records is not sufficient, according to the American Medical Informatics Association, Bethesda, Md.

"For example, an evolving issue relates to current certification standards that are increasingly more prescriptive and detailed--even possibly moving into what some might consider the domain of clinicians; practice workflow," the association notes in a comment letter to the HIT Policy Committee's certification/adoption workgroup. "We believe that highly prescriptive and detailed, one-size-fits-all requirements will ultimately be counter productive."

The certification/adoption workgroup is developing a series of recommendations for the HIT Policy Committee, an advisory body to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Among other issues, the workgroup is determining if the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology should be the sole EHR certifying entity, should be modified, or should be augmented or replaced with other organizations.

AMIA called for any certification process to minimize real or perceived conflicts of interest, such as vendor participation in making recommendations for EHR functionality. For text of the association's comment letter, click here.

--Joseph Goedert

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