On August 30, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the initial ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs) for Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology. The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), Chicago, Illinois, and the Drummond Group Inc. (DGI), Austin, Texas, were named as the first technology review bodies that have been authorized to test and certify EHR systems for compliance with the standards and certification criteria that were issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year. Applications for additional ONC-ATCBs are currently under review.

MEDITECH will certify its 6.0 platform, as well as its Client/Server 5.64 and 5.65 and its MAGIC 5.64 and 5.65 releases. MEDITECH is preparing to deliver a special ARRA priority pack, which contains the software to reflect the new and updated criteria. We will announce a certification date as soon as we determine timeframes and evaluate requirements from each authorized ATCB.