The Certification Commission is a Recognized Certification Body in the United States for certifying health information technology (HIT) products – an independent, nonprofit organization that sets the benchmark for EHRs. In the second year of the program’s operation additional criteria and testing have been added, most notably the capability of sharing information with other healthcare entities.
As a CCHIT Certified product, Practice Partner 9.2.1 software has been tested and passed inspection of 100 percent of a set of updated criteria for:
• functionality (ability to create and manage electronic records for all patients, as well as automating workflow in a physician’s office),
• interoperability (ability to receive and send electronic data to other entities such as pharmacies and laboratories), and
• security (ability to keep patients’ information safe).
The CCHIT Certified mark – a “seal of approval” for EHR products – provides the first consensus-based, consistent benchmark for ambulatory products. By looking to products with the CCHIT Certified seal, physicians and other providers can feel confident they are making a reliable investment, and insurers and other payors know the products meet expected industry standards.
“Physicians who purchase certified products have the assurance that the products have been reviewed by a panel of judges, including practicing physicians, and that the products are being evaluated against standards set by professionals in the field and successfully piloted with products from large and small companies,” said Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., chair, CCHIT. “The quality and safety of EHR products can now be measured using certification criteria that were developed specifically for that purpose.”
The CCHIT certification applies to the EHR component of McKesson’s Practice Partner solution, an award-winning suite of integrated EHR and practice management applications designed to automate the critical functions of a physician practice. The solution includes Practice Partner Patient Records, a robust electronic medical records system; Medical Billing, a complete practice management system; and Appointment Scheduler, which manages scheduling in both single and multiclinic practices. As a fully integrated solution, Practice Partner enables practices to efficiently capture all the information required during a patient encounter and share this information across care settings. Combined with business office outsourcing and connectivity via the RelayHealth intelligent network, the Practice Partner solution addresses both the clinical and administrative needs of physician practices in a cost-effective manner, reducing traditional barriers to the use of HIT for safe, efficient and connected care.
“McKesson, whose Practice Partner software was one of the first to receive CCHIT’s 2007 ambulatory EHR certification, continues to lead the market in the development of integrated, interoperable EHR solutions that are easy to use and rapidly deployable,” said Andrew G. Ury, M.D., vice president and general manager of McKesson’s Practice Partner business. “Helping our customers improve their quality of care and increase their office productivity is paramount to us and is the major focus of our product development efforts. We believe CCHIT certification provides validation of the high level of functionality and interoperability in our product.”
The goals of CCHIT product certification are to reduce the risk of HIT investment by physicians and other providers; ensure interoperability of HIT products; enhance the availability of HIT adoption incentives from purchasers and payors; and protect the privacy of personal health information.
CCHIT’s certification compliance criteria and its design for a certification inspection process have been thoroughly researched, taking into account the state of the art of EHRs and available standards, and comparing certification processes in other industries and other countries. 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 payors. One script, for example, recreates a scenario of an elderly man with poorly controlled diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions in order to test EHR functions such as potential adverse drug reactions, disease management and treatment plans.
