We know that ONC-ATCB Certified Technology and Meaningful Use is required for Eligible Hospitals and Eligible Providers to meet the requirements for the CMS EHR Incentive Program. If you are using Complete EHR technology that has been certified by your vendor, you are probably good to go.

But what if you are an Eligible Hospital that has developed your own EHR or are using a legacy system that the vendor does not plan to submit for testing and certification? What if you are an Eligible Provider in a Cardiology practice that has developed their own application and needs to get it Certified by an ONC-ATCB?

No need to worry. HHS through their Standards and Certification Criteria have taken this into account. Alternative Certification paths are available for both hospitals and medical practices to apply for testing and certification of their EHRs that fall into the non-commercial domain. Beth Israel is the first hospital to receive certification for an in-house developed EHR. On the EP front, similar work has begun and we should hear about the first successful certification of a practice developed EHRs in the coming months.

You can learn more about alternative paths to EHR certification at an upcoming event hosted by HITECH Answers on March 29, 2pm EDT.  In this one hour web session, Alisa Ray, Executive Director of CCHIT® and Pat Becker, Commissioner of CCHIT®, will help EPs and EHs exploring alternative certification:

• Understand requirements of federal certification to support meaningful use of EHRs.
• Recognize the role of ONC-ATCB in certifying EHRs and explore alternative programs.
• Discern if your organization needs an EHR certification if it can’t be supplied by your installed EHR vendor.
• Explore challenges with achieving “certified EHR technology” status for your on-site legacy or customized EHR software.

This is a real opportunity to learn what paths are open to you for EHR certification. .