With this week's expected announcement of the first group of Electronic Health Record (EHR) products to pass the CCHIT certification process, Electronic Health Records Vendors Association (EHRVA) recognizes this achievement and calls on industry stakeholders to do more to accelerate EHR adoption.

“EHRVA works to encourage the widespread adoption of EHR solutions for the significant value they provide to patients, providers, purchasers and payers,” said Charlene Underwood, EHRVA Chair and Director, Government and Industry Relations for Siemens Medical Solutions. “We support independent, private-sector product certification as one mechanism that improves adoption by making it easier for providers to compare and purchase both certified and non-certified products.”

While supportive of certification, many EHR vendors believe the healthcare industry needs to take steps beyond certification, such as providing incentives for the use of products and finalizing crucial standards to enable interoperability, to truly accelerate provider acceptance and adoption of EHR solutions.

EHRVA members have focused dozens of subject matter experts, including many clinicians, and thousands of hours on CCHIT’s criteria development process. In addition to vendor representation on the certification commission by Andrew Ury, MD, EHRVA Vice Chair and CEO of Practice Partner, the association has contributed detailed reviews and recommendations on draft documents. EHRVA intends to continue a high level of engagement as the ambulatory criteria are revised and inpatient and infrastructure criteria are developed for the first time.

EHRVA is committed to an ongoing collaboration with CCHIT to establish certification requirements and to ensure a continuously transparent, equitable and effective process for those vendors who choose to participate.