Business
New group expresses interest in EMR certification
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 16, 2009
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology soon may no longer be the sole certifying body recognized by the federal government to evaluate electronic medical record systems.
Drummond Group Inc., a Fort Worth, Texas-based interoperability test lab, announced that it will submit to become a certifying body upon the release of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's requirements for EMR certification.
For physicians to qualify for incentive money under the stimulus plan, the ONC has said the systems will have to be certified. So far, CCHIT is the only federally recognized certifying body, and many initially believed CCHIT would be the choice by ONC. While it hasn't yet said who the certifying body will be, the ONC said it planned to expand the number of certifying bodies that could evaluate a system's interoperability.
Drummond works with standards groups, vendors and industry groups to drive interoperability standards by conducting interoperability testing. The company said it had been approached in recent months by several EMR vendors seeking certification.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/11/16/bibf1116.htm.
