David More wrote: > Hi Oliver, > > They are about 2 years into the program. > > They are also about 1 year into certifying hospital systems. > > Now that they have 40+ systems certified (at $US28,000 per time)
There has been much discussion of these fees on the international open health list - fees of such magnitude effectively exclude open source and community-based solutions. Not only that, they want the US$28k for every new version to be re-tested. So, if a vendor puts out a minor point release, ka-ching (sound of cash register), another $28k please. And their justification is that it takes person-time to re-do the tests. Seems they've never heard of an automated test - write the tests once, re-run at the push of a button, which is how all software should be tested as it is built these days. Thus, CCHIT is a farce in practice (Horst can supply some suitably colourful epithets here). A bit like accreditation of general practices here in Oz, perhaps? Tim C > On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 17:10:27 +1030, Oliver Frank wrote: >> David More wrote: >>> Hi Oliver, >>> >>> If you want to know how it can be done properly for ambulatory care (i.e. >>> GP and > specialists) I suggest you browse www.cchit.org. They have it sorted for >>> the US and it is pretty impressive how they plan to move forward I reckon. >>> >>> Pity GP systems is not a focus for NEHTA so this could be replicated here. >>> Imagine if > there was a decent standard for functionality and interoperability >>> that Australian providers had to meet. They might not be all that >>> supportive of such a > sensible move I fear as it might cost a few $$ and so on. >> http://www.cchit.org/physicians/overview.htm >> >> tells us: >> >> "CCHIT is the recognized certification authority in the United States for >> EHR products - > an independent, private-sector organization that sets the Gold >> Standard for EHRs." >> >> I hope that I never hear that overworked expression 'gold standard' used >> again, because > its orginal meaning is no longer known by most people. >> Their PDF: "Physician's Guide: CCHIT Certification for Ambulatory Electronic >> Health > Records 2006" >> tells us: >> >> "CCHIT was founded by the American Health >> Information Management Association, >> the Healthcare Information and Management >> Systems Society and the National Alliance >> for Health Information Technology. >> The U.S. Department of Health and Human >> Services (HHS) awarded CCHIT a three-year >> contract to develop and test certification >> criteria and manage an inspection process >> for certifying EHRs. At the end of the >> contract, CCHIT will transition to a selfsustaining >> certification agency." >> >> So they have three years of federal government money to kick start the >> process, then it > has to become self-funding. David, do you know when their three >> years of government funding will be up? >> >> "CCHIT works in collaboration with the >> American Health Information Community, >> the Department of Commerce's National >> Institute of Standard and Technology, and >> with several other organizations awarded >> HHS contracts to harmonize standards, >> develop prototypes for a national health >> information network architecture, and assess >> privacy and security laws and practices. >> The work of CCHIT has been endorsed by a >> number of physician professional organizations, >> including: >> - The American Academy of Family Physicians" >> >> OK, so their equivalent of the RACGP is supporting it. Good. >> >> Let's also go for three years of government funding for an organisation >> indepenedent of > government, run by the profession and software industry jointly. >> Maybe we can save some time and money by using or adapting some of the >> standards that > CCHIT has developed for GP computer systems in the US, keeping in mind >> the very different way that medical practice is organised and funded there. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Gpcg_talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
