ONC to launch permanent health IT certification program

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has established a permanent certification program for health IT. The permanent program will eventually replace the temporary certification plans, which were outlined last summer.

The National Coordinator will use the permanent certification program to authorize organizations to certify electronic health record (EHR) technology, such as Complete EHRs and/or EHR Modules. The permanent certification program could also be expanded to include the certification of other types of HIT, according to CMS.

These regulations will be published in the Federal Register Jan. 7 and will be effective 30 days after publication. ONC expects the permanent certification program will begin on Jan. 1, 2012. The temporary program will continue until the permanent program is ready.

“The act of transitioning from the temporary certification program to the permanent certification program will have no impact on the certifications issued to EHR technology,” according to an ONC release.

The permanent program calls for creation of an ONC-Approved Accreditor (ONC-AA), to be approved through a competitive process to accredit certification bodies. The ONC-AA will be selected every three years.

All certification bodies will have to apply to ONC for ONC-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) status. Organizations that are ONC-ATCBs (certification bodies authorized under the temporary certification program) will not automatically become ONC-ACBs, because a certification body must first be accredited to be eligible for ONC-ACB status. An ONC-ACB will have to renew its status every three years.

When the Secretary Kathleen Sebelius adopts new and/or revised certification criteria in future rulemakings, gap certification will be available as a more efficient certification option to have previously certified Complete EHRs and EHR Modules tested and certified to only the applicable new and/or revised certification criteria.

“We believe that one ONC-AA will be able to address and support the needs of the market based on our projection of approximately [six] ONC-ACBs operating under the permanent certification program,” the ONC stated.

More about the permanent certification program can be found here.