Blumenthal: Preliminary EHR certification unlikely by October

David Blumenthal, MD, National Health IT Coordinator Image source: www.hhs.gov

Although the Health IT Policy Committee adopted a number of recommendations at its meeting last week, some of the recommendations regarding EHR certification and adoption deadlines might be difficult, or impossible, to meet.

During a conference call with healthcare media yesterday to announce $1.2 billion in EHR grants, David Blumenthal, MD, head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC),  talked about a recommendation endorsed by the committee that would set up a preliminary certification process that could be offered to vendors in October.

Blumenthal said that although the policy group adopted a recommendation for a preliminary certification mechanism, the federal rulemaking process must still be followed, and “we will have to do this in a deliberate way.

“So I think it will be hard to adopt a recommendation . . . in the timeframe that was suggested,” said Blumenthal. “And, in any case, it won’t be done outside of the rulemaking process.”

Blumenthal said the grants announced yesterday were the first two in a series of Health IT for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act priority grant programs.

The first program—the Health IT Extension program—will fund dozens of these extension programs across the United States, with the aim of providing hospitals and clinicians technical assistance to support meaningful use of certified EHR systems.

The second grant program will help states and state-supported entities develop and support health information exchanges within their states, and ultimately, across the United States.

“Together, the grants will offer much-needed local and regional assistance and technical support to providers while enabling coordination and alignment within and among states, ultimately allowing information to follow patients anywhere within the healthcare system,” Blumenthal stated.