CMIO.net presents a weekly update of the EHR products certified by the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs). The following EHR certifications were announced recently:

Cardiologists have been at the forefrontsome would say bleeding edgeof EMR adoption and data integration. Now, practices that werent in the early adopter vanguard stand to benefit from their pioneering peers efforts, but they still need to proceed with caution. There are plenty of systems that suffer from persistent and often paralyzing lack of interoperability.

In a multiple-EMR environment, is it smarter to keep your existing investments working together while adding best-of-breed IT systems, or to start over with a single-system approach? This is a question facing more facilities as EMR systems mature and the meaningful use program dictates to some extent which systems and combinations of systems will qualify for incentive dollars.

More than 65 organizations, including IT vendors and integrated delivery systems, have planned support for the Direct Project, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). In addition, 20 states have ONC-approved HIE plans that incorporate the Direct Project as part of their health IT plans, said Arien Malec, coordinator of the ONC's Direct Project and Standards & Interoperability Framework, speaking at a March 21 Webinar sponsored by the National eHealth Collaborative.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted new frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the EHR incentive program in the FAQ section of the EHR Incentive Programs website. Questions added to the site include queries about eligibility, registration, meaningful use and attestation.

Clinical summaries with computer-generated reminders significantly improved clinician compliance with CD4 testing guidelines in the resource-limited setting of sub-Saharan Africa, according to research published in the March edition of Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Legislators are increasing the cost and lowering the quality of healthcare in Montana by refusing funding for EHR technology, Governor Brian Schweitzer said in a March 16 news release. The state legislature denied the Department of Public Health and Human Services the authority to accept and distribute the money to hospitals in House Bill 2, which passed the Montana House on March 14.

No company has emerged as frontrunner in the EMR market, but there is a lead pack, according to a report from Kalorama Information, which valued the EMR market at $15.7 billion in 2010.