A new, voluntary program to certify electronic health records is drawing criticism from some software vendors, who say more time is needed to review the contracts and criteria for certification.

After an 18-month process, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology published its process to certify EHRs for physicians’ offices on May 1 and began accepting applications from vendors seeking certification May 3. The application period is open until May 12. CCHIT aims to announce the first certified EHRs in July.

CCHIT conducted pilot tests with six EHR vendors in January. After a period of public comment, CCHIT made some revisions to the testing process, a fact that’s raised concerns among some vendors.

“We’re kind of going into an unproven process,” said Charlene Underwood, the HIMSS EHR Vendors’ Association chairperson and director of government and industry relations for Siemens Medical Solutions.

Underwood called the deadlines for public response to the certification process “aggressive.”

However, CCHIT Executive Director Alisa Ray said the pilot test was only designed to review the commission’s process for testing products.

“You can get into an endless cycle of comment, adjust, comment adjust. When do you go live?” Ray asked. “We felt we had it right.”

For many vendors, especially those in the small market segment, the turn-around time for vendor input was difficult, according to Don Schoen, president and CEO of MediNotes Corporation. Of particular concern to Schoen was a contract that CCHIT provided vendors this week.

“All of this stuff was coming out at the last minute. That’s just ludicrous. Mistakes are going to get made,” Schoen said.

CCHIT’s Ray said the contracts had to do with business process and workflow issues and would not be the type of thing a business would gather public comment on. She said the contract was posted on the CCHIT Web site April 18. Comments were due April 28.

Schoen said he recognized that CCHIT had to act quickly to meet the organization’s deadlines. CCHIT won a federal contract last year to create a certification process for EHRs and the networks through which they interoperate. Under the contract, CCHIT was to begin certification of ambulatory EHRs this spring.

Some vendors are also concerned that the certification process is 100 percent pass/fail, meaning vendors must meet all of the required criteria or face retesting.

“There’s a lot of high stakes with the process,” said Underwood.

None of the vendors that participated in the pilot tests passed the test, Underwood said. CCHIT would not confirm whether or not any vendor passed the CCHIT test. Sue Reber, a spokeswoman for CCHIT, said the pilot was just intended to test the inspection process, not to test whether vendors passed or failed.

Schoen also said the $28,000 certification fee was too much for a small vendor to pay. He suggested that a flat testing fee would have been fair to all vendors, large and small. Schoen said MediNotes would not participate in the certification process during the first round.

Some vendors praise process

Not all vendors had qualms with the certification process. Paul Edge, a director product management for Misys, said he was pleased that CCHIT tabled a plan to base its testing fees on vendor revenue.

“I was broadly happy with the process,” Edge said. “[CCHIT Chair Mark] Leavitt and his team did a wonderful job of involving all of the stakeholders.”

However, Edge said he’d like to find a better way to get vendors involved in some of the CCHIT workgroups.

Edge said Misys has applied for certification. For vendors that pass, certification will not only mean bragging rights in marketing materials. It will help them in their sales cycles and give them an advantage in requests for proposals. Some RFPs are beginning to ask for certification as a requirement for participation, Edge said.

Underwood said the EHR Vendors’ Association would continue to work with CCHIT to provide input into the certification process.

“It’s got to continue to evolve,” she said.