Will seal of approval spur EMR adoption?

One organization's certification of health information technology products is expected, at minimum, to make doctors more comfortable about buying them.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. Aug. 7, 2006.

Uncertainty about what an electronic medical record is supposed to contain, and the related fear about sinking money into a system that might not provide what physicians need, has kept many doctors, particularly those in small practices, from embracing information technology in their clinical practices.

On July 18, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology made what the AMA, among others, says is a significant stride toward helping ease physicians' concerns. CCHIT announced that products from 20 vendors had met its 2006 certification criteria for ambulatory EMR functionality, security and interoperability. This seal of approval should assure physicians that, at the least, these vendors' systems have the capability of providing what doctors need.

The product certification "is a big step forward" because it offers doctors a set of benchmark criteria for EMRs, Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, CCHIT chair, told AMNews in a telephone interview after a joint news conference with Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt (no relation).

While no one is expecting skeptical physicians to immediately start buying EMRs, physician leaders do believe that the CCHIT's list, which is available online (www.cchit.org), does offer guidance.

"CCHIT's ambulatory electronic health record systems product certification will act as an important tool to help physicians make EHRs purchasing decisions," said Michael D. Maves, MD, MBA, American Medical Association executive vice president and CEO, in a prepared statement of support for CCHIT's program.