List of certified EHRs expected by midsummer: electronic health record products will be evaluated based on more than 250 functional requirements.(NEWS)

PHILADELPHIA -- Physicians purchasing an electronic health record will be able to consult a list of certified products as early as this summer, according to Dr. Mark Leavitt, chair of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.

The certification commission planned to begin accepting applications from electronic health record (EHR) vendors in late April or early May and to publish a list of certified products and their developers in late June or early July.

The list, featuring the first batch of products with the certification commission's seal of approval, will be published on its Web site (www.cchit.org).

The process of certification is voluntary and its success is dependent on acceptance in the marketplace, Dr. Leavitt said at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians. "We're not setting the bar above everyone's heads so that no products meet it," he said. "But it is not trivial to have a product that meets the criteria."

The commission was formed in 2004 by the American Health Information Management Association, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology. In September 2005, the group received a 3-year contract from the Department of Health and Human Services to work on certification criteria for EHRs.

The certification commission is focusing first on certifying products for the ambulatory setting. In phase II, the certification commission will work on evaluating EHR products for the inpatient ...