Recognizing the healthcare industry's need for and interest in certification of electronic health record (EHR) products, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and National Alliance for Health Information Technology (the Alliance) have established a collaborative initiative for the certification of ambulatory EHRs.

Leaders of the three convening organizations, Linda L. Kloss, RHIA, CAE, executive vice president/CEO, AHIMA; H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, president/CEO, HIMSS; and Scott Wallace/president/CEO, the Alliance, stated they had committed initial staff and funding to launch the private-sector effort, and were inviting key leaders and stakeholders in healthcare to join an industry-wide board that will guide the certification initiative. On July 13 in Washington DC, an initial organizational meeting was held with leaders of physician and other healthcare professional associations, information technology (IT) vendors, health plans, and self-insured employers to develop a broad-based and allied approach to the certification issue.

Secretary Tommy Thompson of the Department of Health and Human Services included private sector certification as a key action announced today at the HHS Secretarial Summit on Health Information Technology. "A private sector EHR certification is one of the market agents that does not exist today and is necessary for the health care industry to realize better value from our investment in health information technology," said David J. Brailer, MD PhD.

As for developing the EHR certification, there was broad consensus among the participants at the July 13 meeting. "Electronic health records can improve the quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare, but adoption must be accelerated" explained Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, chair of the initial group meeting and HIMSS medical director. "We believe that voluntary, private-sector certification of these systems will let physicians and other healthcare professionals select and implement these products with greater speed and confidence, and ensure that information can be securely exchanged as the nation's health information infrastructure develops."

"Certification of EHRs will greatly facilitate purchaser efforts to recognize practices that have adopted better patient care systems," said Francois de Brantes, president of the Bridges to Excellence initiative. "We support this effort and look forward to participating."

"Physicians in smaller practices are looking for a trusted certifier of HIT products and services to help them make more rational choices in this crowded marketplace," said David C. Kibbe, MD, director of the Center for Health Information Technology for the American Academy of Family Physicians. "The American College of Physicians strongly endorses the need for an independent process to certify electronic medical records," added John Tooker, MD, executive vice president of the American College of Physicians. Wes Rishel, immediate past chair of Health Level Seven (HL7), added his support saying, "I am delighted to see a practical approach for using the HL7 standard for EHR functionality."

The group plans to formally announce the ambulatory EHR product certification initiative at the HHS Secretarial Summit on Health Information Technology meeting in Washington, D.C. on July 21-23. Board members for the certification initiative will be announced in the next several weeks. Participation is expected from physicians and other clinicians to understand their needs as the end user, from the vendor community to understand their application development requirements; and from payers to ensure that the right criteria are in place to allow the design of incentives for IT adoption that will ultimately lead to improved quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of care.