Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT)

Adele Burnes

Website: http://www.cchit.org/
Article about CCHIT: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cchit-work-new-timelines-new-programs

Description: CCHIT is an organization that is publishing and certifying EHR standards. This organization is implementing standards apparently in accordance with the American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). It is among the many standards but sounds somewhat official. They certify a variety of EHR applications and products.

Use Case: Software Certification
A company creates a software program that will target small medical offices in their implementation of Electronic Health Records, however in order to gain credibility they need a certification. They come to the CCHIT because they are a widely recognized standards body that is implementing ARRA policies. They work with CCHIT to gain certification, and CCHIT evaluates their system ensuring that it follows the EHR standards. Once it passes, the software can advertise and display the CCHIT certification to gain the needed credibility among customers.

This organization is focused completely on setting standards to increase interoperability among products and applications.