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ATLANTA, July 30, 2007 — The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHITSM) today announced that McKesson's Practice Partner 9.2.1 software is CCHIT CertifiedSM and meets the Commission's ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) criteria for 2007. Ambulatory EHRs are designed for physician offices and clinics where most Americans get their healthcare. The Certification Commission is a Recognized Certification Body in the United States for certifying health information technology (HIT) products - an independent, nonprofit organization that sets the benchmark for EHRs. In the second year of the program's operation additional criteria and testing have been added, most notably the capability of sharing information with other healthcare entities.
As a CCHIT Certified product, Practice Partner 9.2.1 software has been tested and passed inspection of 100 percent of a set of updated criteria for:
- functionality (ability to create and manage electronic records for all patients, as well as automating workflow in a physician's office),
- interoperability (ability to receive and send electronic data to other entities such as laboratories), and
- security (ability to keep patients’ information safe).
The CCHIT Certified mark - a "seal of approval" for EHR products - provides the first consensus-based, consistent benchmark for ambulatory products. By looking to products with the CCHIT Certified seal, physicians and other providers can feel confident they are making a reliable investment, and insurers and other payors know the products meet expected industry standards.
"Physicians who purchase certified products have the assurance that the products have been reviewed by a panel of judges, including practicing physicians, and that the products are being evaluated against standards set by professionals in the field and successfully piloted with products from large and small companies," said Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., chair, CCHIT. "The quality and safety of EHR products can now be measured using certification criteria that were developed specifically for that purpose."
The CCHIT certification applies to the EHR component of McKesson's Practice Partner solution, an award-winning suite of integrated EHR and practice management applications designed to automate the critical functions of a physician practice. The solution includes Practice Partner Patient Records, a robust electronic medical records system; Medical Billing, a complete practice management system; and Appointment Scheduler, which manages scheduling in both single and multiclinic practices. As a fully integrated solution, Practice Partner enables practices to efficiently capture all the information required during a patient encounter and share this information across care settings. Combined with business office outsourcing and connectivity via the RelayHealth intelligent network, the Practice Partner solution addresses both the clinical and administrative needs of physician practices in a cost-effective manner, reducing traditional barriers to the use of HIT for safe, efficient and connected care.
"McKesson, whose Practice Partner software was one of the first to receive CCHIT's 2007 ambulatory EHR certification, continues to lead the market in the development of integrated, interoperable EHR solutions that are easy to use and rapidly deployable," said Andrew G. Ury, M.D., vice president and general manager of McKesson's Practice Partner business. "Helping our customers improve their quality of care and increase their office productivity is paramount to us and is the major focus of our product development efforts. We believe CCHIT certification provides validation of the high level of functionality and interoperability in our product."
The goals of CCHIT product certification are to reduce the risk of HIT investment by physicians and other providers; ensure interoperability of HIT products; enhance the availability of HIT adoption incentives from purchasers and payers; and protect the privacy of personal health information.
CCHIT’s certification compliance criteria and its design for a certification inspection process have been thoroughly researched, taking into account the state of the art of EHRs and available standards, and comparing certification processes in other industries and other countries. The inspection process is based on real-life medical scenarios designed to test products rigorously against the clinical needs of providers and the quality and safety needs of healthcare consumers and payers. One script, for example, recreates a scenario of an elderly man with poorly controlled diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions in order to test EHR functions such as potential adverse drug reactions, disease management and treatment plans.
McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 18th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. McKesson is the longest-operating company in healthcare today, and will mark 175 years of continuous operations in 2008. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit http://www.mckesson.com.
CCHIT was founded in 2004 with support from three leading industry associations in healthcare information management and technology – The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Alliance). In September 2005, CCHIT was awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop, create prototypes for, and evaluate the certification criteria and inspection process for EHRs and the networks through which they interoperate. More information on CCHIT and a list of CCHIT Certified products is available at www.cchit.org.
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