The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has selected two more organizations to test and approve electronic health records systems, bringing to a total of five the groups authorized under ONC's temporary certification program.
ICSA Labs and SLI Global Solutions will verify that EHRs meet meaningful use standards and certification criteria, ONC said in a Dec. 10 announcement.
Certification assures healthcare providers that the EHR technology they acquire can perform the functions they need to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive program. Physicians and hospitals that become meaningful users of certified EHRs and modules are eligible for incentive payments under the HITECH Act.
The two new ONC-Authorized Temporary Certification Bodies (ATCB) join the Certification Commission for Health IT (CCHIT), the Drummond Group and InfoGard Labs, which ONC selected in late summer.
ICSA Labs of Mechanicsburg, Pa., is an independent division of Verizon Business and provides vendor-neutral testing and certification for security products and tools. SLI Global Solutions of Denver, Colo., offers services to manage technology risk, such as in health IT, government and election system certification testing.
Both organizations will certify complete EHRs and modules.
The temporary program, which expires in December 2011, is designed to ensure health IT vendors have their products and services certified in time for providers to meet 2011 deadlines for qualifying for first stage meaningful use requirements.
ONC's Certified Health IT Product List includes more than 150 EHRs and modules that CCHIT, Drummond and InfoGard have certified to date since September, as well as the criteria they cover.
ONC is developing a permanent certification program, in which separate organizations will perform testing and certification activities, for subsequent years of the incentive program.
