MacPractice (http://www.macpractice.com) — the developer of MacPractice MD, MacPractice DDS, MacPractice DC, and MacPractice 20/20 — has announced that the company plans to become the first EHR/EMR solution built exclusively for the Mac platform to achieve certification to the federal government’s proposed Health Information Technology standards for electronic health records/electronic medical records (EHR/EMR).
As the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology works to finalize the certification guidelines, MacPractice has continuously upgraded its solution to meet the evolving standard, so that once a Final Rule is established, the company can apply immediately for certification under the program. As the only EHR/EMR solution designed specifically for optimum performance on the Mac platform, the company anticipates that it will be the first of its kind to achieve certification, says Mark Hollis, president and co-founder of MacPractice.
Per the current guidelines issued by the ONC, certain physicians who accept Medicare and who deploy and demonstrate meaningful use of a certified EHR/EMR solution could qualify for up to $44,000 in financial incentives through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) beginning in October 2011. More money is available to physicians who treat patients covered by Medicaid.
On March 10, the ONC published a revised version of the proposed rule establishing a certification program for electronic health records software in the Federal Register (Doc. 2010-4991), which kicked off the public comment period for the proposed temporary and permanent EHR testing and certification programs. The new version is available for public inspection at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-4991.pdf.
In anticipation of the Final Rule, last week the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) announced its intent to apply to become an authorized certifying organization as soon as the Final Rule for authorization of certifying organizations is issued. The Drummond Group, an Austin, Texas-based company with 20 years of certification experience in other industries, has also announced its intentions. Other organizations are expected to follow suit. The ONC has promised Final Rules on meaningful use and EHR certification standards sometime in June.
“We continue to make enhancements to MacPractice EMR in order to meet the anticipated Final Rule for software certification and help physicians demonstrate the still-evolving ‘meaningful use’ stipulation,” Hollis says. “If there are no major surprises in the Final Rule promised at the end of June, we plan to submit for certification immediately after finalization, in any case less than five months.”
