ONC’s 2014 Edition EHR Certification Criteria define the requirements that EHR technology must meet in order to be used by eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHs), and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. In addition to these criteria, ONC made some policy changes to the HIT Certification Program.

The first new provision requires that the test results on which an ONC-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) based its 2014 Edition certification decision be publicly accessible. These test reports can be accessed by clicking on any specific 2014 Edition product on the Certified HIT Product List (CHPL) to view its detailed product page.

The test reports provide detailed information on the certification criteria to which the product was certified, the test procedures used during testing, and many other specific details, including the “usability” or, to be more specific, the “user-centered design” processes followed by the EHR technology developer in creating its product. As part of 2014 Edition certification, EHR technology must be presented to an ONC-ACB with documentation proving that user-centered design processes were applied to each of eight medication-related certification criteria (named in the “safety-enhanced design” certification criterion 45 CFR 170.314(g)(3)) for which certification is requested.

The second new provision requires ONC-ACBs to ensure that EHR technology developers disclose “[a]ny additional types of costs that an EP, EH, or CAH would pay to implement the Complete EHR’s or EHR Module’s capabilities in order to attempt to meet meaningful use objectives and measures.” This policy focuses on an EHR technology developer’s responsibility to notify EPs, EHs, and CAHs about additional types of costs (i.e., one-time, ongoing, or both) that may affect an EHR technology’s cost for the purposes of achieving MU. We clarified, however, that this provision focused on the type(s) of cost(s) that needed to be disclosed, not the actual dollar amount.

For more info see : http://www.healthit.gov/buzz-blog/electronic-health-and-medical-records/...

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