HIMSS Electronic Health Record Vendors Association Collaborates on Response to CCHIT Phase Two Report

HIMSS EHRVA Continues Momentum of Unprecedented EHR Vendor Agreement in Response to EHR Certification Proposal.

(CHICAGO – August 12, 2005) – The HIMSS Electronic Health Record Vendors Association (EHRVA), a 34 member coalition of leading electronic health record (EHR) vendors, has again demonstrated its commxxitment to collaboration and submitted its consensus response to the Certification Commission on Health Information Technology’s (CCHIT) Phase Two work products proposal.

The EHRVA initially submitted an in-depth response to the Phase One report on May 18, 2005. Meeting the Phase Two public comment period deadline of August 11, 2005 has required almost daily interaction by the EHRVA’s three teams focused on functionality, security and reliability, and interoperability. The Phase Two submission reflects agreement among EHRVA’s members who represent the majority of EHR suppliers in the US.

“The EHRVA is a combination of large and smaller vendors—and we recognize the need to set competition aside in order to work on very critical issues that will move the entire industry forward,” said Justin Barnes, EHRVA Board member and Vice President of Marketing and Government Affairs for Greenway Medical Technologies. “Technology and product workflow behind the EHR is critical to its adoption and success, and we are all aware that the EHR vendors are being given a chance to be heard based on our vast experience with these systems. We know that we have a louder voice when we speak together.”

CCHIT chairman Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., in a June 17, 2005 letter to healthcare stakeholders, defined the importance of Phase Two as “a process of drafting and finalizing certification requirements and test procedures and publishing a forward-looking roadmap of certification requirements in the future.” The EHRVA has also submitted a letter to Chairman Leavitt expanding the group’s input into this roadmap.

“The EHRVA companies have a depth of expertise in developing systems that meet the unique needs of hospital providers and physicians in office-based practices. We know the complexities of serving disparate settings, and we have a vested interest in promoting standards for EHRs and interoperability that will allow us to create seamless healthcare communities,” said Charlene Underwood, EHRVA chairperson and Director, Government and Industry Relations for Siemens Medical Solutions. “We applaud the CCHIT efforts to escalate EHR adoption for the universal good of healthcare, and for the benefit of the millions of healthcare consumers we represent via our membership .”

About HIMSS EHRVA

HIMSS EHRVA is a trade association of Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendors who have joined together to lead the HIT industry in the accelerated adoption of electronic health records in hospital and ambulatory care settings in the US. The association provides a forum for the EHR vendor community to speak with a unified voice relative to standards development, the EHR certification process, interoperability, performance and quality measures, and other EHR issues as they become subject to increasing government, insurance and provider driven initiatives and requests. Membership is open to HIMSS corporate members with legally formed companies designing, developing and marketing their own commercially available EHRs with installations in the USA.

The association, comprised of 34 member companies, is a partner of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and operates as an organizational unit within HIMSS. For more information, visit http://www.himssehrva.org