Feds Extend Certification Program

The federal government is delaying by six months its adoption of a permanent electronic health record certification program, saying there aren't enough accredited health IT laboratories to handle the testing load.

The notice of extension for the temporary certification program, due to be published in Thursday's Federal Register, is available in a preview released today. The EHR certification program was to have ended Dec. 31, but the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is extending it through summer 2012. That's the expected timeframe for issuing a final rule on standards, implementation and certification criteria for EHR technology to meet the next stage of "meaningful use."

"We believe aligning the sunset of the temporary certification program with the effective date of this forthcoming final rule would provide certainty to health-care providers, EHR technology developers and other stakeholders, while also ensuring a sufficient number of accredited testing laboratories and (authorized certification bodies) exist to meet market demand," ONC said in the notice.

The notice also left open the door to another possible delay in the ending of the temporary certification program.

Any EHR technology that can't be tested and certified by the end of the temporary program must be resubmitted for testing under the permanent program.