Drummond Group this past week announced the launch of its new Pediatric Health IT Certification Program.

WHY IT MATTERS
The program aims to build on the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT's guidelines for voluntary certification of electronic health records used by pediatricians.

It will provide a Drummond Certified certification seal to health IT software that successfully passes specified use cases and is, therefore, recognized for excellence in pediatrics testing. It will also enable IT vendors to differentiate themselves in the marketplace by showing advanced capabilities that go beyond baseline certifications.

For the pilot project of the certification program, Drummond will be drawing on feedback from a trio of health IT companies: NextGen Healthcare, Office Practicum and PCC.

They're helping finalize the test scripts, which are based on the 10 recommendations from the ONC in its 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule, the HL7 Pediatric Care Health IT Functional Profile R2.1 published in May 2022, and the Agency for Healthcare Research Children's EHR Format 2015 Priority List to advance child health, such as through interoperable immunization data for health systems, schools and public health agencies.

"Working with numerous stakeholders over the last two years, Drummond's newest program will offer health IT software developers an innovative, premium certification service to comprehensively address pediatric testing," Drummond Group President Ryan Patano said in a statement.

"We believe it will serve as an ideal foundation to test and/or certify health IT software to deliver better screening tools for accurate tracking and lead to safer medication use, improved communication and knowledge about growth and development, and overall improvements in the management of children with special health care needs, to name a few of its long-term benefits."

"As the first EHR developer to certify a complete EHR solution to the 2015 Edition Cures Update criteria, we understand the peace of mind that a third-party certification gives providers," added David Sides, president and chief executive officer at NextGen Healthcare.

THE LARGER TREND
Pediatrics health IT has been gaining more attention recently. In early 2021, we spoke with several CIOs at children's hospitals and world-class pediatric care centers who discussed EHR optimization, agile teamwork and other forward-thinking innovations during the pandemic era.

That summer, the Biden Administration invested $11 million in new pediatric telehealth funding, aimed at broadening access to behavioral healthcare for children. (Other recent reports have shown how pediatricians believe virtual care technology has staying power.)

This past month, we reported on a new AI model that used local weather information to help forecast the possibility of pediatric appointment no-shows.

ON THE RECORD
"Now more than ever, pediatricians need technology they can trust to deliver quality care across a wide range of childhood treatment applications," Kraig Brown, CEO of Office Practicum, said in a statement. "The Drummond program is a natural complement to our interoperability solutions developed in support of and in compliance with the 21st Century Cures Act."

"Healthcare's main focus has centered on adult medicine, with children's unique needs often an afterthought," said Chip Hart, director of pediatric solutions at PCC. "A partner to pediatricians in independent practice, PCC was thrilled to participate in the development of pediatric certification, and we look forward to delivering meaningful, child health-specific features and functionality to pediatricians."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
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