Dallas, Texas (June 10, 2010) – T-System today announced that T SystemEV, its emergency department information system, has been inspected by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) and is certified electronic health record (EHR) technology, IFR Stage 1, meeting 9 of 22 requirements for Hospitals and 10 of 24 requirements for Eligible Providers published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Interim Final Rule. Inspection information is available at http://www.cchit.org/productsearch. For the purpose of qualifying products for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) incentives, CCHIT anticipates, but has not yet received, accreditation by HHS.
T SystemEV passed every EHR module for which it applied, showing that T-System is preparing to support users to receive “meaningful use” reimbursement under ARRA. To date, T SystemEV is the only EDIS to receive preliminary modular EHR certification both in the Hospital and Eligible Provider categories.
The Preliminary ARRA IFR Stage 1 certification program, operated by CCHIT, inspects EHR technology against federal criteria and standards developed by the HHS and published on January 13, 2010. It is offered now to allow eligible providers and hospitals time to qualify for incentive funding under the ARRA. The program is designed to demonstrate that a vendor’s product is well prepared to be certified once Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) accredited testing and certification becomes available. The final criteria and test procedures are not yet available, nor has CCHIT been accredited yet by ONC. When those events occur, CCHIT will replace the Preliminary ARRA program with a final, ONC-accredited ARRA certification program, and health IT companies will have an opportunity to complete final certification.
The Preliminary ARRA IFR Stage 1 criteria and standards used by CCHIT for EHR technology inspection were published by the HHS as an Interim Final Rule as an Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology. The IFR took effect on February 12, 2010.
