Allscripts EHR Wins Certification - Analyst Blog

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX), a leading provider of clinical software and information solutions meant for medical providers, recently announced that both its Sunrise Emergency Care, Version 5.5 as well as Sunrise Acute Care, Version 5.5 are currently in compliance with 2011/2012 Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT).

These products were duly certified to be Complete EHRs (“Electronic Health Record”), on December 21, 2010, by the CCHIT, a part of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB). This certification was in conformity with the appropriate provider and hospital certification criteria as adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). The 2011/2012 criteria fulfills the Stage 1 ‘meaningful use' parameters under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).    

Allscripts chose to submit Sunrise Acute Care and Sunrise Emergency Care for certification as both a composite as well as a modular EHR to cater to hospitals that like to maintain a pre-existing third-party analytics product. The ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification process states that composite EHRs satisfy all the 2011/2012 criteria while EHR Modules satisfy one or more – but not the entire set – of criteria approved by the Secretary of HHS.

Providers maintaining ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certified EHR modules may later come back to test more criteria and certify their products as complete EHRs. The 2011/2012 certification bestowed by CCHIT is not an endorsement of the certified EHR technology by the HHS nor does it assure any incentive payments.

CCHIT is an autonomous not-for-profit body that endeavors to promote the adoption of healthcare information technology. The ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification program assures that EHR technology is capable of meeting the 2011/2012 criteria approved by the Secretary of HHS.

The healthcare information technology market is competitive and price sensitive. Among others, Allscripts faces strong competition from Cerner Corp. (CERN), Quality Systems (QSII) and Athenahealth (ATHN).

EHR is a software that automates the process of writing prescriptions. The EHR system enables physicians to send prescriptions directly to a pharmacy by e-mail. It has been proven that the effective use of EHR systems reduces medical errors, enhances clinical quality and leads to better patient outcomes by providing real-time access to patient records.

 
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