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Tuesday, June 21, 2016 1:00 PM

What’s new with the CHPL (Certified Health IT Product List) and Certification Surveillance?

Written by Kay Jackson, Education and Advisory Manager, Iatric Systems

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Have you noted the changes in the CHPL? In my opinion, the changes make it easier for you, as a healthcare provider, to check for your full list of certified products, and to secure your Medicare ID number each year to attest.

Because many vendors may retest for new functionality, and as a result may change the ID number, it’s my recommendation that you review these ID numbers each year. 

Beyond the ability to check product certifications and IDs, let’s look at what else is new with CHPL.

Recently, the new requirement for product surveillance has been added for both 2014 and 2015 Edition Products. What does that mean to purchasers and vendors? ONC-ACB (ONC-Authorized Certification Bodies) must perform surveillance of any health IT products they have certified. Why are they conducting that level of review? The ONC-ACB must ensure that the products and capabilities meet the certification requirement — not just in the controlled testing environment, but actually test out in the field. The surveillances can be random, or they can be scheduled in response to a specific complaint. I find it interesting that the EHR program started with six testing bodies and now there are only three testing bodies. 

When an ONC-ACB determines that a product does not comply with certification requirements, the product is considered non-conforming, and the vendor must work with the ACB for corrective actions. If they fail to work with ACB to correct, they will lose their certification. Let’s look at an actual example. Two different versions of Platinum Health Information System's SkyCare 4.2 EHR lost their certifications after failing to respond to, and participate in, routine surveillance requests by an ONC-authorized certification body. Now, when you look at the certification data in the CHPL for these two versions of SkyCare’s EHR, you’ll see, noted in red, the fact that their certification was terminated effective 9/2/15. It’s important to consider this risk. If your vendor lost its certification, how would that impact your patients and you participation in the EHR program? 

Having just gotten back from the International MUSE 2016 conference, I was able to help offer educational sessions about ongoing CMS changes and Meaningful Use updates. Having so many face-to-face discussions at MUSE, it was clear to me that many hospitals continue to face confusion and concern around Meaningful Use, beyond 2016.

For more information on the new CHPL rules, view the CHPL certified product list.

If you’d like to attend any of our post-MUSE summer educational Webcasts, please review and register for our educational sessions.