EMR is a customizable electronic medical records system designed to help create and maintain complete medical records faster and more efficiently than before. CCHIT is a recognized certification body in the United States for certifying health information technology products. They are an independent, nonprofit organization that sets the benchmark for EHRs. The quality and safety of EHR products can now be measured using certification criteria developed specifically for this purpose. In the second year of the program’s operation, additional criteria have been added, particularly to measure the capability of sharing information with other healthcare entities.
This certification signifies that NextGen’s EMR meets the Commission’s electronic health record criteria for 2007, which has been expanded for this year. As a CCHIT Certified product, NextGen’s EMR was tested and passed inspection on a core list of functional requirements, such as: functionality (the ability to create and manage electronic records for all patients, as well as automating the workflow in a physician’s office); interoperability (the ability to receive and send electronic data to other entities, such as pharmacies and laboratories; and security (the ability to keep patients’ information safe). This helps physicians and other customers decide whether they are making a reliable investment on a product that has or has not met or exceeded industry standards, measuring the quality and safety of a product using certification criteria.
According to Corley, the industry is growing and physicians are becoming more aware of the importance of having industry standards for electronic medical records. Purchase of such costly equipment is an important decision, which can be facilitated by the formal testing and certification of products like EMR. Certification such as this provides a sense of security to the purchaser that the requirements for the product have been met.
Certification from CCHIT involves testing of the product with over 300 criteria, the company’s submittal of written information about the product, and an evaluation of the product by a board of jurors made up of clinicians, health professionals and security experts. NextGen is the first vendor to earn the 2007 CCHIT Certification. They received the 2006 certification, which was good for three years, but as criteria becomes more specified each year, NextGen opted to voluntarily submit to a recertification in 2007. The inspection process is based on real-life medical scenarios designed to test products rigorously against the clinical needs of providers and the quality and safety needs of healthcare consumers and payers. According to Corley, the requirements for this product become more stringent each year in an effort to help physicians do their best for quality reporting. She says, EMR will help improve healthcare with a system that will not only meet the customer’s needs now but well into the future.
For NextGen the future will provide more programs of Practice Management and Community Health Solutions and more interoperability and information sharing. Sharing information across communities will create a larger penetration of EHRs, says Corley. Currently, only about 25% of the industry uses EHRs but she is confident that number will rise in the near future. “The more doctors that use the programs, the larger the volume of information to be shared.”
Corley believes the more information that is shared, the more successful and beneficial programs like EHR will be. The more physician involvement there is in the system, the more effective it can be. “Every physician should have it,” she says.
For more information on NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., visit www.nextgen.com. More information on CCHIT is available at www.cchit.org.
