HHS Designates CCHIT as a Recognized Certification Body

Congratulations to CCHIT for its accomplishment and for helping blazing the trail for HIT distribution! SV

CHICAGO – OCTOBER 24, 2006 – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has designated the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHITSM) as a Recognized Certification Body (RCB). In August, the Department published two final rules providing an exception to the physician self-referral prohibition (commonly referred to as the Stark law) and a safe harbor under the anti-kickback statute. These provisions allow hospitals, health systems, health plans and others to donate interoperable electronic health record (EHR) software to physicians and other healthcare practitioners under specified conditions, one of which is that the software must be interoperable. EHR software will be deemed interoperable under both rules if it has been certified within 12 months prior to the donation by a certification body recognized by the Secretary.

"The HHS final rules allow hospitals, doctors, and other entities to collaborate on health IT projects, achieving economies of scale not available to individual medical practices. This will help overcome a major financial barrier, accelerating progress toward our goal of widespread adoption of robust, interoperable EHRs. CCHIT is proud to have been deemed a Recognized Certification Body, and we thank our volunteers as well as every stakeholder who has contributed to our efforts," said Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, chair, CCHIT.



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