CCHIT ends all operations
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) will cease operations, effective immediately, with all work slated to end by Nov. 14.
CCHIT was established in 2004 through a collaboration with three health IT associations—HIMSS, the American Health Information Management Association and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (now defunct)—to provide certification services for health IT products and education for healthcare providers and IT developers. In October 2005, the Department of Health and Human Services contracted with CCHIT to develop certification programs for EHRs and health information exchanges.
CCHIT became an Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT-authorized certification body and testing laboratory in September 2010. Then in January 2014, CCHIT voluntarily withdrew from the ONC HIT Certification Program and sunsetted its independently developed CCHIT Certified program. Since earlier this year, CCHIT offered programs focused on helping providers and health IT developers understand health IT requirements.
"We are concluding our operations with pride in what has been accomplished," said Alisa Ray, CCHIT executive director, in a statement. “For the past decade CCHIT has been the leader in certification services, supported by our loyal volunteers, the contribution of our boards of trustees and commissioners, and our dedicated staff. We have worked effectively in the private and public sectors to advance our mission of accelerating the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology. We have served hundreds of health IT developers and provided valuable education to our healthcare provider stakeholders.”
The “slowing of the pace of ONC 2014 Edition certification and the unreliable timing of future federal health IT program requirements,” according to Ray, “made program and business planning for new services uncertain” and so CCHIT’s trustees decided that “operations should be carefully brought to a close.”
As a 503 c(3) nonprofit organization, CCHIT’s trustees decided to donate its remaining assets, primarily its intellectual property, to the HIMSS Foundation.
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.