By, Molly Merrill

CHICAGO – HIMSS Analytics EMR Adoption Model is gaining interest internationally, according to Dave Garets, the company’s CEO and president.

HIMSS Analytics, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, collects IT data on every non-federal hospital in the country and some hospitals in Canada through an annual study that tracks the implementation and adoption of electronic medical record applications.

Garets said the HIMSS Analytics EMR Model, which rates hospitals on a scale from 0 to 7, is garnering interest in some European and Middle Eastern countries and Australia. With slight modifications, he said, the model has the ability to work on an international level.

“The model has gotten international acceptance because it is a standard way of doing it,” he said. “It makes sense to most everybody.”

When data indicates a hospital has reached Stage 6, HIMSS Analytics contacts the CIO to make an independent validation. Garets said half of those phone calls lead to a determination that the hospital isn’t at Stage 6 yet.

“What’s striking about Stage 6 hospitals is the amount of different vendors that are represented. It’s a very nice thing because it shows it’s not the software, it’s what you do with it,” said Garets.

When a hospital’s data suggests it has reached Stage 7 – the highest level of the model – HIMSS Analytics performs an on-site visit. Garets said nothing is off limits during this visit, and HIMSS Analytics officials have the freedom to look at the hospital’s IT systems in action.

Garets said only one hospital has not met the Stage 7 requirements after a site visit.

“As more healthcare organizations move toward EMR implementation, the Stage 7 hospitals offer valuable best practices focused on using EMR applications to improve patient safety, clinical outcomes and patient care delivery efficiency,” said Mike Davis, HIMSS Analytics’ executive vice president.

Above article publish on http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/himss-analytics-looking-go-international-its-emr-adoption-model

Patty Enrado, Contributing Editor

Long before ARRA, more than five years ago, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center began a $50 million electronic medical record initiative. This past summer, UCSF reportedly wrote off a third of that cost and scrapped its contract with the EMR vendor. The EMR system reportedly had technical difficulties that never enabled it to be fully functional. Undeterred, UCSF is forging ahead with its goal of digitizing its patient records, which says a lot about its faith in EMRs.

UCSF Medical Center isn’t the first healthcare system to have a costly, disastrous experience, and it won’t be the last. Industry stakeholders, however, need to work together to ensure that the number of failures dwindle significantly.

The most important thing that the EHR/EMR market can do for itself is to be transparent. If there is no transparency, how can healthcare systems perform accurate due diligence? There’s a business reason for non-disclosure clauses in sales contracts, which prevent purchasers from reporting problems with the health IT vendor or their products, and “hold harmless” clauses, which exempt vendors from any liability. It may guarantee a risk-free business environment for the health IT vendor, but it hurts the EMR market and eventually hurts the health IT vendor’s reputation. Clinicians and healthcare organization executives may be obligated to remain silent about the product and/or the vendor’s problems, but they will talk informally to their counterparts in other healthcare organizations. You’ve heard the complaints. You know which health IT companies did what to whom.

Transparency need not be the enemy of health IT companies if they have solid products and customer support. For those that have had problems - and I’m not saying they have bad products or customer support - it’s a business imperative to fix those problems. There are less-expensive, more flexible EMR solutions that have come into the market in the last year. There will be other UCSF Medical Centers that cut off their legacy vendor and start anew.

There are some in the industry who say so long as the federal stimulus incentives help subsidize the purchase of legacy systems the problems will continue. University of Pennsylvania sociologist Ross Koppel believes the federal government should have put that money to use by developing “more usable and more responsible software.” I think that route would have been successful as a first step, though I still believe in the incentives. There are some who believe the federal government should regulate the EMR industry. If that sounds odious, then perhaps the EMR industry ought to regulate itself.

As for healthcare providers, they need to understand the enormity of the task. What I mean is that they need to not only put up the cash for the initiative but dedicate human resources to the initiative. Dedicate a team, if that is what is required.

I’d be remiss not to mention that for every UCSF there is a UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) - large healthcare systems that have successfully implemented big-budget EMRs and are reaping administrative and clinical benefits. The problem is there aren’t enough of them. And that’s why there is hesitation among healthcare systems. As an industry, let’s try to increase those success stories.

Above article published on http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/how-healthcare-industry-can-increase-number-successful-ehremr-initiatives

Time to take a look at the costs associated with the 2011 CCHIT Certification programs. If you’re not sure which programs I’m talking about, you need to go read my post about Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 and CCHIT Certified 2011.

The following are the costs that CCHIT plans to charge for their 2011 EHR certifications:

CCHIT Certified 2011 Ambulatory EHR – $37,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal

CCHIT Certified 2011 Inpatient EHR – $49,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal

CCHIT Certified 2011 Emergency Department – $37,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal

CCHIT Certified 2011 ePrescribing – $18,000 with a $9,000 annual renewal

Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 1-2 modules – $6,000 with a $1,000 annual renewal

Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 3-5 modules – $10,000 with a $2,000 annual renewal

Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 6-10 modules – $15,000 with a $3,000 annual renewal

Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 11-20 modules – $24,000 with a $4,000 annual renewal

Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 >20 modules – $33,000 with a $5,000 annual renewal

*These are estimates subject to final approval

Of course, the ones that matter most are the CCHIT Certified 2011 Ambulatory EHR for $37,000 and the Preliminary ARRA Certified 2011 >20 modules for $33,000. Why? These are the two certifications that most people care about. If you’re an EHR vendor, then you’re going to want to do one of these two options (Assuming you’re going to go with CCHIT certification. More on that later.). These are the two options which should eventually be recognized as the certified EHR requirement for the ARRA EHR stimulus money.

Which CCHIT Certification Should I Do?

The question an EHR vendor has to make is which of these two certifications make sense. Will having CCHIT Certified 2011 help you to sell more EHR software than just being Preliminary ARRA Certified? I’m guessing that it probably won’t. Most people I’ve seen really just want to make sure they get the ARRA stimulus money to pay for their EHR. Plus, with either certification you’ll be able to honestly tell a clinic that you have a “certified EHR.” Most doctors won’t know or care about the difference in the certification types.

Many might think that it’s only a $4,000 difference between the Preliminary ARRA 2011 certification and the CCHIT Certified 2011 so why not just get the later. It is interesting that the costs are so close to each other. However, remember that this isn’t the only cost associated with becoming certified. One EMR vendor I talked to put the software development costs to become CCHIT Certified in the six figures. We won’t know for sure until CCHIT publishes the final certification criteria, but I project that the CCHIT Certified requirements will number close to 300 while the Preliminary ARRA requirements will be close to 100. That’s a huge difference in development costs to meet 200 more requirements which your customers may or may not find useful.

Some might use the CCHIT Certified 2011 to try and assure potential buyers that they’ll have a more successful EMR implementation because of this certification. Many might actually believe it, but unfortunately there’s no evidence to prove this is actually the case.

EHR vendors should also be aware that CCHIT is looking at doing a site certification as well. This might be a better option for some EHR vendors who work with people who have few people actually interested in the EHR stimulus money.

Other EHR Certification Options Beyond CCHIT

It’s still too early to know for sure if other EHR certifying bodies are going to be created to handle the HHS certification requirements for EHR. However, I’m willing to bet that at least a couple will be created.

Basically, CCHIT has set the price for EHR ARRA certification at $33,000 with a $5,000 annual renewal. I could be wrong, but that seems like a lot of money to certify a piece of software. I’m guessing that some entrepreneurial folks will find a way to do it for cheaper. Could you certify 100 EMR vendors for less than $3.3 million? We’ll see what ONC/NIST requires from a certification organization, but seems like a pretty nice business model to me.

For EMR vendors, this is important because competition amongst certifying bodies will most certainly drive the cost of EMR certification down. Then, the PR battle between CCHIT and the new certifying bodies will begin. Basically, this could be really interesting to watch if someone else decides to join the EHR certifying fray.

Above article published on

http://www.emrandhipaa.com/emr-and-hipaa/2009/09/14/cost-of-new-cchit-ehr-certifications/

Bernie Monegain, Editor

The Certification Commission for healthcare information technology has announced that it will launch new certification programs on Oct. 7.

CCHIT officials announced Tuesday they will offer an updated comprehensive electronic health record certification program, called CCHIT Certified 2011, as well as a modular certification program – called Preliminary ARRA 2011 – that is limited to the standards for qualifying EHR technology under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“There is a high risk that providers would not achieve meaningful use to qualify for the ARRA incentives in 2011 and 2012 if they wait until late 2010 to implement certified EHR systems and technologies,” said Mark Leavitt, MD, chairman of the commission. “On our town call Sept. 3, which drew over 700 attendees, we received valuable feedback on our proposed programs and a strong indication of interest from health IT companies and developers in applying for timely certification under these programs.”

Leavitt said the commission has followed the recommendations of the health information technology advisory committees to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and believes there is sufficient information to offer preliminary ARRA certification.

HHS criteria and standards are slated for publication by the end of 2009. Final rules on meaningful use are expected in the spring of 2010.

If that process results in the introduction of new requirements, the commission will offer vendors with preliminary certifications an incremental inspection at no additional fee to bring their certifications into alignment with the final rules.

The commission’s certification materials, including criteria, test scripts and certification policies for both programs, will be published Sept. 24 on the CCHIT Web site. Applications for certification will open online on Oct. 7.

To help HIT companies and developers to make 2011-certified EHR technology available to providers, the commission is offering a workshop in the Chicago area on Oct. 1. The workshop, Get Certified 2011, is designed to orient companies and developers to the new certification process and help them use the new certification program tools effectively.

Above article published on

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cchit-poised-begin-new-certification-programs

Kyle Hardy, Community Editor

CHICAGO – The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s EHR Usability Task Force has released a white paper focusing on the level of usability in electronic medical records and their implementation at healthcare organizations.

“Defining and Testing EMR Usability: Principles and Proposed Methods of EMR Usability Evaluation and Rating” identifies usability of software in an EMR as “one of the major factors and possibly the most important factor hindering widespread adoption of EMRs.”

“Through our research, we found that usability as a requirement in the certification process could benefit product development for more usable EMR products and give users or decision-makers more confidence in selecting clinical EMR systems,” said Jeffery L. Belden, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Missouri Health Care’s School of Medicine and chairman of the HIMSS EHR Usability Task Force.

Principles and methods are highlighted in the study as processes that offer benefits for organizations that certify technology. These procedures allow certifications organization “to test and rate products for usability.”

The study also looks at:

• a definition of usability relating to an EMR;
• a set of principles pertaining to usability and design; and
• potential methods for assessing and rating usability of an EMR

The HIMSS task force gives suggestions for rating the usability of an EMR through a five-step process, emphasizing that organizations start small with usability ratings, devise measurements and create a five-star rating system base on a standard.

“With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as the catalyst for healthcare reform, this white paper provides an insightful review of usability for the EMR and its value in the certification process,” said Edna Boone, HIMSS’ senior director of healthcare information systems. “The task force will continue to study this important topic of usability and its benefits for successful EMR implementation.”

Above article published on

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/himss-white-paper-usability-critical-adoption-emrs