18 Jul GE's Centricity EHR receives federal certification
Waukesha, Wis. – GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co., has announced that its Centricity Electronic Health Record (EHR) has received certification for use in physician offices and clinics from the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.
CCHIT certification is considered the stamp of approval for providers and an assurance to customers that products meet the functionality, interoperability, and security criteria set forth by the commission.
Vishal Wanchoo, president and CEO of GE Healthcare Integrated IT Solutions, believes certification will be a market differentiator for GE Healthcare, and the certification process will encourage more practices to consider EHR adoption.
“With so many EHR vendors in the industry and a trend toward consolidation, we believe that certification will set us apart as a vendor capable of meeting the dynamic needs of physicians, patients, and the healthcare industry as a whole,” he said in a statement.
The certification process is a federal effort to reduce risk for physicians and hospitals that purchase and implement healthcare information technology.
Toward that end, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, a voluntary private-sector initiative, was awarded a three-year contract in September 2005 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The contract calls for the commission to develop and evaluate certification criteria and an inspection process for office and clinic EHRs, inpatient (hospital) EHRs, and the networks through which they interoperate.
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