Developers & Vendors
Developers and Vendors of Health Information Technology (Health IT) play an important role in the ONC Certification Program – they create Electronic Health Record (EHR) products in accordance with the standards and certification criteria adopted by the HHS Secretary to help providers and hospitals meet Meaningful Use (MU) objectives and measures. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) oversees Meaningful Use and the EHR Incentive Programs, which provides incentive payments to providers and hospitals who meet MU objectives and measures.
In the Temporary Certification Program (TCP), Developers and Vendors work with ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs) to test and certify their EHR products based those standards and certification criteria adopted by the HHS Secretary. Once the product is certified, the ONC-ATCB will then submit the product information to ONC for posting on the Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL). A list of ONC-ATCBs may be found here.
In the Permanent Certification Program (PCP), Developers and Vendors will first test their EHR products with an Accredited Testing Laboratory (ATL). Then, if their product meets the requirements, they will work with an ONC-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) to certify the product.
Eligible Providers (EPs) and Eligible Hospitals (EHs) will then purchase certified EHR products and use them in accordance with MU objectives and measures.
Standards and Certification Criteria
The standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria adopted by the HHS Secretary establish the minimum requirements that CEHRT must include to support the achievement of MU Stage 1 by EPs and EHs under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Refer to the Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology Final Rule for additional information.
Test Procedures
Test procedures have been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for ONC-ATCBs to use in the TCP. These test procedures are available at:http://healthcare.nist.gov/use_testing/effective_requirements.html
The Test Procedures approval process is described in the Establishment of the Temporary Certification Program for Health Information Technology.
Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL)
Certified EHR products are posted on the Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL). Developers and Vendors with questions about their product’s listing should contact the ONC-ATCB who certified their product in the TCP. For the PCP, Developers and Vendors with questions about their product’s listing should contact the ONC-ACB who certified their product.
