As a testing company with more than a decade’s worth of experience, we’ve certified many software products across multiple industries. In the process, we’ve worked with quite a few certification and standards-setting bodies.

For the past several months, we’ve been busy in the healthcare industry, working under the auspices of the government’s electronic health records incentive program. As a matter of fact, since becoming an Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ATCB), we’ve certified more than 300 electronic health records systems using a testing script developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology (ONC-HIT).

Although we’ve tested systems for a variety of standards-setting groups, we weren’t quite sure what to expect when we started working as a testing company under the purview of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) legislation – a behemoth government program to say the least.

Much to our delight: We’re really happy with the way things are going so far.

Why? First, we think the leaders in the government program got it right.  The powers-that-be managed to develop clear technical requirements without imposing restrictive implementation methods, making it possible to ensure that certified EHRs all perform at a certain level, but also leaving enough flexibility for EHRs to meet specific user needs and for developers to continue to innovate.  It’s a tricky balance but one that the ONC seems to have mastered quite well.

As a result, there’s plenty of room for developers to come up with products that push the envelope with new features and functions or to tailor systems to meet the very specific needs of certain specialists such as OB-GYNs, chiropractors or plastic surgeons. At the same time, end-users can rest easy, knowing that software systems that have been certified actually live up to the specifications that will make it possible for them to meet the government’s meaningful use requirements and, subsequently, qualify for their share of the federal government’s incentive funds.

We’re also happy with our work in the program.  We feel that Drummond Group has been able to add value to the overall process by infusing a healthy dose of neutrality into the testing and certification process.  Steadfastly maintaining neutrality has, after all, been a concept that we have built our company on since the beginning.

Although happy to be a member of the healthcare IT community, we purposely shy away from becoming deeply involved in professional coalitions or advocacy efforts. As such, when we test a product, we test a product.  We don’t have to worry about the fact that an industry coalition spoke out against one of the ONC test requirements because our neutrality would keep us apart.

In essence, we make sure we don’t attach to anything else, so that the only thing we are attached to is testing. It’s a singular focus that serves software developers and the overall mission of the HITECH program well.