The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology is seeking to further broaden its bandwidth.

CCHIT, the country's primary certification authority for electronic health records and health information networks, has invited the industry to suggest new areas in which it can certify conformance with technical standards.

CCHIT will accept suggestions on its future direction through December. The organization is encouraging respondents to "provide information on the benefits of expanding certification into a new area, the readiness of that area for certification and an estimate of the effort required to develop certification in the area."

Industry recommendations will form the basis of the organization's draft expansion plan. A public comment period will run from Jan. 15 to Feb. 5, 2009. A final road map will be published sometime after Feb. 17.

CCHIT came into being in 2004 as a collaborative effort of the American Health Information Management Association, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the National Alliance for Health IT.

In 2005, the private, not-for-profit organization entered into a three-year contract with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in the Health and Human Services Department to certify vendors' ambulatory and then inpatient EHRs as conforming to standards adopted by HHS. The following year, HHS officially designated CCHIT as a recognized certification body.

The organization has expanded into emergency department EHR products and created a process for certifying ambulatory EHRs focused on two specialties: child and cardiovascular health. Certification of personal health records is set to get under way next year.

Looking ahead, CCHIT plans to expand certification programs in 2010 to include behavioral health and long-term care. Where to go in 2011 and beyond has yet to be determined.

When CCHIT certifies that systems adhere to official health IT standards and meet minimum operability and security requirements, health care providers can feel more comfortable about buying the systems. CCHIT certification also is a prerequisite for some EHR purchase assistance programs.

Recommendations for expansion should be submitted through the
commission's Web site.