HITPC to hold hearing on health IT certification program
The Health IT Policy Committee will hold a public hearing on May 7 to discuss the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC’s) Health IT Certification program.
The Washington, D.C. event will convene providers, health information exchange organizations, technology developers, certification bodies and testing labs to discuss lessons learned, characteristics of an ideal certification program, how it can be improved going forward and how to measure success, according to a Health IT Buzz blog post written by Lee Stevens, policy director of the state HIE program at ONC.
“The hearing is part of ONC’s efforts to review the certification program’s structure, processes and outcomes,” Stevens wrote. “Now that the Health IT Certification Program has been operating for almost two years, we want to assess what is working, what isn’t working and how we can optimize program activities in the future.”
ONC particularly is interested in exploring improved methods for gathering public expertise to support testing. As such, the agency is seeking input on a new way to develop testing procedures.
“Our expectation is that this approach will enable the certification program to incorporate insight into testing scenarios and certification approaches that better reflect clinical workflows and real-world use of health information technology,” according to the blog post.
ONC also is examining how to reduce the burden of certification while maintaining program integrity.
To learn more about the hearing, go here.