Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, provided an overview of U.S. activity in accelerating health IT adoption through certification today at The World of Health IT (WHIT) Conference and Exhibition. Co-presenter of this session was Dr. Georges De Moor, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Department of Medical Informatics and Statistics at the University of Ghent and Belgium President of the European Institute for Health Records (EuroRec). In this thought leader presentation, Leavitt provided an update on the organization's progress and future directions. With an estimated US ambulatory electronic health record (HER) product market size of more than 200 companies and a US physician adoption rate of less than 20 percent, the Certification Commission was first challenged to fairly and efficiently create a product certification program that would help office-based health care providers become more confident about the purchase and use of EHRs. With the cooperation of its founding sponsors and supportive government funding, the Commission was able to harness the contributions of hundreds of expert volunteers and constructively engage stakeholders throughout the health care industry to rapidly come to consensus on criteria and an inspection process.
The Certification Commission moved from inception to the operation of a commercially successful program within 18 months. Within 12 months of launch of the program, 90 products from an estimated 40 percent of companies in the ambulatory (office-based) market became certified and many more continue to apply.
While certification has enjoyed a high degree of market acceptance, considerable feedback has been received urging the Certification Commission to go beyond the scope of work in its HHS contract, and to extend its certification model to more specialized areas of professional practice, additional care settings and special patient populations. Government and private payer programs are beginning to base requirements and incentives for health IT adoption upon use of products that have achieved certification.
A copy of Leavitt's presentation may be accessed at www.cchit.org.
About WHIT
Healthcare delivery in the EMEA context is increasingly taking on an integrated and citizen-centered approach. WHIT aims to reinforce this approach by bringing together the key actors to interact and form new alliances in the practical implementation of strategic plans.
The WHIT Conference & Exhibition has been designed for and by the healthcare IT community in the EMEA region - be they technology users, buyers, vendors, providers or healthcare regulators. WHIT 2007 moves from exploring fact-based IT solutions to examining health IT in the wider context of health delivery. For more information, visit www.worldofhealthit.org.
About the Certification Commission
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology is an independent, nonprofit organization that has been officially named by the federal government as a "recognized certification body" for health information technology products and networks. Its mission is to accelerate the adoption of health information technology by creating a credible, sustainable certification program. The certification requirements are based on widely accepted industry standards and involve the work of hundreds of expert volunteers and input from a variety of stakeholders throughout the health care industry. More information on the Commission and CCHIT CertifiedSM products is available at www.cchit.org.
"CCHITSM" and "CCHIT CertifiedSM" are service marks of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.
About Mark Leavitt
Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, is Chair of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology. An independent, nonprofit organization, CCHIT's mission is to accelerate the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology. Working under a 3-year, $7.5M contract from the Department of Health and Human Services, CCHIT is now the recognized US authority for certification of electronic health records (EHRs). Over 200 volunteers serve on the organization's boards and work groups.
Originally trained in Electronic Engineering at the University of Arizona and Stanford, Dr. Leavitt then attended the University of Miami School of Medicine and Oregon Health and Science University. While practicing Internal Medicine for 10 years, he developed solutions for managing clinical information, which led to his next calling in health IT. He founded MedicaLogic, a pioneering ambulatory EHR company, and led it for 17 years of growth from startup to its IPO. After GE Healthcare Systems acquired the company in 2002, he served as VP for Clinical Initiatives at GE, then moved to HIMSS in 2003 to serve as their Chief Medical Officer.
He is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Informatics at the Oregon Health and Science University, and is a fellow of HIMSS and ACMI.