Beth Israel's self-developed EHRs receive certification

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has become the first hospital to have its own self-developed EHR technology certified as a complete EHR under a new Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) program.

Earlier this month, the Chicago-based CCHIT launched its EHR Alternative Certification for Hospitals (EACH)--an Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Authorized Testing and Certification Body 2011/2012 certification program that is used for installed hospital EHR technology or older EHRs that vendors won't get certified. The EACH program is based on required ONC criteria and National Institute of Standards and Technology test procedures and tools.

The medical center, like many academic health centers, "has a combination of built and bought technologies that collectively provide interoperability, clinical functionality, and security," said John Halamka, MD, MS, the center's chief information officer, in a statement. "The EACH inspection process was rigorous, requiring us to follow over 500 pages of scripts and implementation guides in a single day long demonstration."

The medical center was one of three organizations that piloted the EACH program. "Their participation helped us refine the training and assessment tools that we've developed to prepare hospitals for an ONC-ATCB inspection," said Bambi Rose, CCHIT testing and certification program director.

For more details:
- read the article in Health Data Management
- see the CCHIT release