The first electronic health records systems to pass a new certification process will be announced next month. But the voluntary program has drawn criticism from some software vendors, who say more time was 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 on May 3 began accepting applications from vendors seeking certification. The application period ended 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, the panel 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, chairwoman of the HIMSS EHR Vendors’ Association 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 segments, the turn-around time for vendor input was difficult, according to Don Schoen, president and CEO of MediNotes Corp. 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 or fail, meaning vendors must meet all of the required criteria or face retesting.

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

Some vendors praise process

Not all vendors had qualms with the certification process. Paul Edge, a director of 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 Chairman Mark] Leavitt and his team did a wonderful job of involving all of the stakeholders.”

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.