WASHINGTON – The chairmen of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology and Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel have weighed in on the future of their organizations under the new stimulus package.
At a Wednesday Web seminar hosted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt and HITSP Chairman John Halamka said their organizations still have value to the Obama administration.
The stimulus package promises to pay Medicare and Medicaid providers for "meaningful use" of certified healthcare IT beginning in 2011. Yet the law has unanswered questions left for interpretation by the new Health and Human Services secretary. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.) is awaiting Senate approval for that post.
Leavitt says he is confident that CCHIT will be the certification body that the HHS will specify, for a number of reasons. First, HHS recognition is the vehicle specified under the law for selecting a certification body, and the HHS has recognized CCHIT since 2006. (The stimulus package language could not name CCHIT specifically because naming a private organization would be considered an earmark, Leavitt said.)
Second, he said, with providers needing certification within the next year to qualify for stimulus package bonuses, there isn't enough time for a new organization to be developed. "I have nothing against competition, but the program starts in 20 months and providers need to start their purchases right away to allow for testing and gathering of data for six months beforehand," he said.
Leavitt said the CCHIT has delivered all its assigned goals and budgets on time, with a successful rate of acceptance in the market. The commission is seeing an influx of applications from electronic health record vendors to be certified under the most current standards available, he said.
With CCHIT-certified vendors comprising 75 percent of the market, Leavitt said the bigger question is which certification criteria will the new HHS secretary select - the 2008 criteria, standards adopted for 2009 or a new set of criteria.
"We have been through an incredible transformation," he said. The $19 billion set aside to promote healthcare IT in the stimulus package is the fastest funding growth given any program since World War II, except for post-9/11 funding for Homeland Security.
"Our world has changed in a big way, but we should embrace it," Leavitt said. "CCHIT is along for this rocket ride, and we will evolve to meet the needs."
Halamka said HITSP has created "a substantial body of work" that will "radically simplify" standards harmonization going forward.
The new law calls for the development of a healthcare IT standards committee - an entirely new advisory body to the federal government. "The standards committee will provide a valuable function advising the federal government, but it won't advise other stakeholders or the industry," Halamka said. "I still believe there is useful work to be done by HITSP."
Halamka is also banking on assignments already given to HITSP for 2009, including directives from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services to help with the comparative effectiveness component of the stimulus law. HITSP will also be helping the Social Security Administration to streamline automated disability data, he said.
HITSP is currently working on a service-oriented architecture that will include social networking applications, Halamka said.
Under the new stimulus bill, "I believe the healthcare IT policy may be new, but the standards will be a combination of new and evolved," he said.
Halamka said he is keeping close watch over developments relating to HITSP's future and recording them in his blog.
Halamka and Leavitt agreed that providers should not delay in adopting healthcare IT as soon as possible to cash in on bonuses provided in the stimulus package. Both said providers who implement healthcare IT with real intention will most likely have "meaningful use."
