Software Component of athenaClinicalsSM
Service Complies with 100 Percent of Certification Criteria
athenahealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATHN), a leading provider of internet-based
business services for physician practices, today announced the
Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT®)
has approved the software component of athenahealth’s service-based
electronic health record (EHR), athenaClinicalsSM Version
9.15.1, as a conditionally CCHIT Certified 08 Ambulatory EHR pending
advanced electronic prescribing verification, additionally certified for
Child Health. According to CCHIT, athenahealth’s EHR service meets the
Certification Commission’s electronic health record (EHR) criteria for
physician office-based use. The Commission—a private, nonprofit
organization—is the Recognized Certification Body in the United States
for certifying health information technology products.
“Two key new areas of interoperability are required to achieve 08
certification,” said Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., the chair of CCHIT.
“First, ambulatory EHRs must be capable of advanced electronic
prescribing functions so physicians can qualify for bonuses under
Medicare’s new incentive program. Second, EHRs must be able to send and
receive an electronic patient summary. These and other new criteria will
ensure that certified health IT products help improve quality, safety,
and efficiency while protecting the privacy of health information.”
In the third year of the program’s operation, the criteria and testing
have been significantly updated again to provide physicians with more
assurance that certified products will meet their needs. The Commission
also added 19 criteria to the 200 required in 2007. Those changes were
focused on the ability to exchange patient information with other
systems.
