After a thorough review of the recent NPRM along with months of consideration, DGI is excited to announce that we will be applying to be an ONC-ATCB this year.

As mentioned before, receiving the HHS requirements to become an authorized EHR testing and certification body was the missing piece in our decision to move forward. Now that we have that piece, we feel confident in announcing our intention to formally apply.

In our review of the NPRM, we found it sound, reasonable and a big step forward for formal testing and certification criteria to support Health IT. We will offer our comments as requested, but overall it was an excellent effort. The quality assurance measures required for Part 1 of the Application were to be expected and DGI is in compliance with both ISO/IEC Guide 65 (for certification bodies) and ISO/IEC Guide 17025 (for testing bodies). The proficiency expertise to be demonstrated in Part 2 of the Application is an obvious necessity, and we are confident that we will meet the requirements in this area.

The next steps, besides making our comments on the proposed rule, will be internal efforts to prepare for the EHR testing later this year.  We will do our best to move forward in an expedient manner, but our efforts will be metered by the progress at NIST and the ONC. If you would like to join our mailing list for EHR testing announcements, including when we will officially begin accepting certification sign-ups, please email our Certification Coordinator, Joani Hughes, at joani@drummondgroup.com. This simply adds you to our email list and is not a commitment on your part to test with us.

Last point. We won’t spend too much time here on this blog talking about the Permanent Certification program given the more immediate concerns of the Temporary Certification program. We will say we plan on being part of the Permanent Certification program. More importantly, we want to convey that since our initial press release last November, we have known that we are not in EHR testing for the short haul, but rather, the long term. We have been involved with certification and testing for industries of Retail, Energy, Automotive, and Financial for years. If you look at some of our current testing programs, (AS2 – 10 years, ebMS – 8 years, GDSN – 6 years, SAML – 4 years, CSOS – 6 years), we don’t pursue test opportunities unless we are committed for the future. We are not conducting EHR testing just to take advantage of the CMS incentive money and then leave when it is gone. We believe the future of Health IT is promising, there is plenty of work to be done and to be shared and Drummond Group wants to be a part of it.