Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology

U. S. nonprofit organization

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) was an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the public mission of accelerating adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology in the United States. The Commission certified electronic health record technology (EHR) from 2006 until 2014. It was approved by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as an Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC ATCB). The CCHIT Certified program is an independently developed certification that includes a rigorous inspection of an EHR's integrated functionality, interoperability and security using criteria developed by CCHIT's broadly representative, expert work groups. These products may also be certified in the ONC ATCB certification program.

CCHIT was founded in 2004 with support from three leading industry associations in healthcare information management and technology: the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (the Alliance). In September 2005, CCHIT was awarded a 3 year contract by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and evaluate the certification criteria and inspection process for EHRs and the networks through which they interoperate. In October 2006, HHS officially designated CCHIT as a Recognized Certification Body (RCB). In July 2010, HHS published new rules for recognizing testing and certification bodies, scheduled to take effect when it named the new bodies. In September 2010, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) of HHS named CCHIT again under these new rules. CCHIT is an ONC Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC ATCB).

CCHIT focused its first efforts on ambulatory EHR products for the office based physician and provider and began commercial certification in May 2006. CCHIT then developed a process of certification for inpatient EHR products and launched that program in 2007. CCHIT then assessed the need for, and potential benefit of, certifying EHR for specialty medicine, special care settings, and special needs populations. CCHIT, in a collaboration with the MITRE Corporation, also developed an open source program called Laika to test EHR software for compliance with federally named interoperability standards. In January 2014, Information Week reported that CCHIT would exit the EHR certification business. On November 14, 2014, CCHIT ceased all operations.

The Commission, chaired by Karen Bell, M. D., M. M. S, was composed of 21 members each serving two year terms.