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 In general, EMR companies seem to be split down the middle of the
road on the importance of certifying with CCHIT. At this years
TEPR, you would have though that CCHIT was a four-letter word, the
way that representatives from the smaller EMR companies were
throwing out their name. AND, while I understand their frustration,
the truth of CCHIT Certification is found somewhere between the
large established EMR companies' perspective (inspired by their
vested interest) and the small to mid-sized EMR companies' perspective (fueled by
their general skepticism).
CCHIT Certification
In July 2006, the Certification Commission for Healthcare
Information Technology (CCHIT) published its initial list of EMR
companies to be “certified” with CCHIT’s list of EMR features. An
initial group of 18 companies were on the list. CCHIT certification
is not a legal requirement of companies, nor are providers required
to use “certified” products.
The CCHIT committee developed a list of features that should be
included in most EMR implementations. The committee was highly
represented by the original 18 system companies – so it is no wonder
that they were the first to certify. There are many good EMR’s that
have chosen to review the CCHIT program before jumping in. Over the
coming months and years, these quality EMR systems will likely
participate in the process.
I generally believe that in the long run, EMR certification is a
good thing and will help reduce the risk of “fly by night” software
companies offering products that do not do what they say they do.
It is important to note that certification does not guarantee that a
product will work for any particular medical office. In fact, the
industry average for failed implementation of many certified EMRs is
estimated at 50%. If certification guaranteed success, then this
would not be so.
CCHIT Certification does not address most of the day-to-day issues
that determine successful use of an EMR.
• CCHIT does not certify quality customer service.
• CCHIT does not certify effective workflow or that the features
certified to exist can be used efficiently.
• CCHIT does not address any practice management or billing
functionality. It is strictly clinical in nature.
• CCHIT does not certify the financial stability of the company.
• CCHIT does not certify that responsiveness to updates or bugs
fixes.
• CCHIT does not certify that the system you purchase has any Return
on Investment.
• CCHIT does not certify that the training and implementation of the
product are quality and effective.
In short, CCHIT simply provides a checklist of features. If you
don’t need those features, or if you need features that are not on
the list, then CCHIT certification does you little good. It does not
certify other items that are critical to an effective
implementation.
To be considered for the CCHIT certification list, companies had to
pay an initial fee of $28,000.00 as well as $4,800.00 annual
maintenance fees. Additionally, CCHIT requires fees for marketing
the same product under different brand names. After paying all these
fees, then the company gets the privilege to go through the review
process. Because “certification” is not required by any government
institution, many companies determined that it would be prudent to
wait and see the value or importance of this certification program.
Regardless of the certification status of any particular EMR, I
maintain that resellers and medical offices should do their own
“needs analysis” to determine if the software is appropriate for
them. Though a product may receive “certification” for the existence
of a list of features, that certification does not indicate any
specific applicability to a particular office and the needs they may
have. For example, if you want only to do ePrescribing, then a
“certified” product would be much too expensive and almost sure to
fail. Match the product to your needs and use CCHIT certification as
a guide to the available features in that product.
-- Kevin Burdick,
InvestMedLLC.com
September 2006, TOP STORY: What will become of the small
independent electronic claims clearinghouse?
July 2006, TOP STORY: MGMA-zing!
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