What’s ahead of EHR software vendors

It is undeniable that our healthcare system is undergoing some major transformations. Many of which are aimed to improve quality of care and patient safety. Since the release of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive program as part of the stimulus package, the technology sector is expected to see much needed growth and job creation due to the increased demand for technologies that will enable the transition.

While it may seem obvious at first to predict that most EHR software vendors would be the first to benefit from these federal programs. It is widely anticipated due to the complexity of the certification, that only a handful are expected to become what is referred to as Certified EHR.

In certain cases vendors are either acquiring other solutions to include as part of their portfolio and their strategic plans, and some are simply upgrading their product to ensure it meets the certification requirements.

As noted by the ONC, recently NIST (National Institute of Standards and technology) released the approved (pending) test procedures for evaluating conformance of complete EHRs and/or EHR Modules to the initial set of standards. That define the initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria published on July 13, 2010.

These procedures of 49 different test measures are a first step for many EHR solution vendors to gauge the level of readiness their solution. It will assist in assessing what resources and timeline needed to ensure compliance with the first stage of meaningful use requirements.

The majority of these procedure released in http://healthcare.nist.gov/use_testing/finalized_requirements.html tests contain some of the follow sections:

• Definition
• Certification Criteria
• Informative Test Description
• Referenced Standards
• Normative Test procedures
• Test Data
• Conformance Test Tools

Organizations across the country are evaluating the business pros and cons in pursuing meaningful use. And with concerns of potential commercial payers at times following CMS initiatives, one must wonder if a certified EHR would eventually be a must have.

In some cases where the certification process may be a burden, the opportunity for all to seek standardization in interoperability and health information will only encourage collaboration, coordination of care and better medicine. This in most cases would prove to continue to improve care, quality and safety.