The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology has opened a public comment period for its proposed oncology and women's-health electronic health-record certification criteria and test scripts. The comment period will end Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. CT.
CCHIT work groups will review comments and make any necessary adjustments to the criteria and test scripts, according to a CCHIT news release, with certification testing set to begin in February 2011. Both programs are considered "optional add-on" certifications. Healthcare providers seeking federal subsidies for the purchase of EHR systems must demonstrate that they are using an officially certified system in a meaningful way; CCHIT is among three organizations and companies that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has approved to test and certify EHR systems.
KLAS Enterprises, an Orem, Utah-based health IT market research firm, released a report on oncology EHRs in September that noted the challenges faced by both those seeking to market and use the products. "The oncology market has been ignored by enterprise software vendors for the most part," report author Monique Rasband said in a news release. "Oncology seems to be on the roadmap for most vendors, but few have made much progress, and their functionality doesn't seem to be meant for use as a full oncology platform."
