The ONC Wants Your Feedback

Let your voice be heard, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Health IT Standards committee is requesting public comment about the temporary electronic health record certification for Stage 1 of the meaningful use program. One of the specific areas they are seeking input on is should it be required to test and certify that any EHR Module presented for testing and certification properly integrates with another EHR Module by a different vendor.

On some level, this debate boils down to a closed proprietary ecosystem-think Adobe’s Flash platform versus a more open ecosystem-think Apple’s app for their iPhone platform, basically, will interoperability among vendors be forced for certification? Even today with the examples I gave-which by the way is Apple’s point of view-there’s healthy dialogue among informational technology professionals on which system, Apple or Adobe is closed and/or more opened. These platforms have been out for decades with millions of users, and they still do not interact with each other.

EHR is too important and critical to let permanently defining the certification program of meaningful use drag on for decades. Take the discussion about EHR certification out of the break room, cubicle pod and conference room, and let the ONC officially hear your opinion by June 17.