The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology has launched its 2011 certification program, designed to help hospitals and physician practices show meaningful use of IT that is required to qualify for federal incentives.

The government is still defining ‘meaningful use.’ The estimated time of arrival is spring 2010.

To help providers qualify for the incentives that require use of certified technology, the commission developed Preliminary ARRA 2011. CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt, MD, described the program as a modular certification process based on the recommended definition of meaningful use that was released on July 16. The modular certification provides more flexibility, but a little less protection than the existing CCHIT pro- gram, he said.

However, if healthcare organizations were to wait for the definition before taking action, Leavitt said, they could miss their chance at incentives. “We’re moving forward, skating toward the puck rather than waiting for it to move,” Leavitt said.

“Our decision to move forward instead of waiting has been met with a very positive response,” said Alisa Ray, CCHIT’s executive director.

The proposed definition of meaningful use, which calls for e-prescribing, CPOE, drug decision support, electronic receipt of lab results, a problem list and quality reporting, is “pretty ambitious,” Leavitt said. In his view, the final definition is not likely to be more rigorous.

Leavitt said CCHIT is also developing a site development program that would make it possible for early adopters who developed their own IT systems to qualify for incentives. Without certified IT products, they could not be eligible under the federal rules.

He predicted there would be a surge in certification demand.

“We are talking about tripling the rate of adoption,” he said. “We expect a burst of innovation. The vendors, just like the providers, share urgency about not waiting. There are quite a few products we haven’t seen before.”