EHR Vendor Loses Meaningful Use Certification
HHS announced on Thursday that two EHRs have had their Meaningful Use certification revoked. EHRMagic-Ambulatory and EHRMagic-Inpatient, which are developed by EHRMagic, Inc., were previously certified for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. It is the first time that a certified EHR has had its certification status revoked.
ONC and InfoGard Laboratories, an ONC authorized certification body for Meaningful Use, both were notified that the EHRs did not provide required functions and shouldn’t have passed certification. After retesting, the EHRs failed.
ONC has made it clear that certification is an ongoing process. Dr. Mostashari stated,
We and our certification bodies take complaints and our follow-up seriously. By revoking the certification of these EHR products, we are making sure that certified EHR products meet the requirements to protect patients and providers.”
Eligible professionals and hospitals who purchased the decertified EHRs will have no choice but to implement an alternative EHR in order to continue participating in Meaningful Use. EHRMagic customers now are in a difficult situation, with significant costs, downtime and retraining to transition to a new EHR as well as loss in incentive payments they would have otherwise been potentially eligible for.
iHealthBeat.org reports that no one has attested to Meaningful Use using the EHRMagic products yet, according to Peter Ashkenaz, an ONC spokesperson. These means that EHRMagic customers will at least not be faced with potential recoupment of payments. It remains unclear what liability EHRMagic may have to its customers for failing to retain certification for its EHR products.
