NeoTool — Singular Focus, Healthcare Integrated

Posted in EHR, EMR, Healthcare IT

There is an interesting statistic hidden in a posting this week from Healthcare IT News:

… CCHIT spokesperson Sue Reber … estimated that more than 40 percent of companies with ambulatory EHR products have been certified.

That’s a huge percentage and represents real market acceptance of the CCHIT standards. Why should we care as HL7 integration experts? Here are three reasons:

1. The CCHIT criteria started life as HL7’s EHR standard. The goal was to spell out what it means to have an EMR and what features / functions it must support. These are high level goals such as “maintain list of allergies” or “supports outcome Measures and Analysis.” Think really big picture concepts - the devil is in the details.
2. With market acceptance of the base criteria, CCHIT has leading US market mind share. Good, bad, or indifferent, it seems like it will soon be a requirement to be “CCHIT Certified” in order to sell an EMR in the US market. This means there could be a rush for EMR vendors to get certified quickly.
3. Going forward, CCHIT is raising the bar and adding interoperability requirements. This is critical to the integration world as it effectively demands that EMR vendors support certain interactions, data models, and work flows. As an example, CCHIT is adding the requirement to support ELINCS, a lab result reporting standard. This will drive lab result interfaces to be “more standard” and they will, over time, move towards using the LOINC code set for the “typical” lab tests.

Last 5 posts by Dave Shaver

• HL7 Working Group Meeting Includes Strong International Attendance - September 16th, 2008
• Integrating EMRs with Reference Labs - September 3rd, 2008
• Massachusetts Hospitals Must Have CPOE by 2012 and CCHIT-Certified EHRs by 2015 - August 13th, 2008
• HL7 Dates and Times - July 25th, 2008
• HL7 Time Zone Qualification - July 25th, 2008