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ehr onc final certification - Department of Health Care Services

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Response. We would like to make clear that eligible pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and eligible<br />

hospitals are not required to use EHR Modules in order to meet the definition <strong>of</strong> Certified<br />

EHR Technology. The use <strong>of</strong> EHR Modules is completely voluntary and provides an<br />

alternate avenue for eligible pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and eligible hospitals who seek to implement<br />

more customized HIT solutions while still meeting the definition <strong>of</strong> Certified EHR<br />

Technology. Commenters who expressed c<strong>onc</strong>erns about their responsibility for seeking<br />

<strong>certification</strong> for EHR Modules for which no vendor supports did not provide specific<br />

examples, and we are uncertain as to the basis for their c<strong>onc</strong>erns. Regardless, we<br />

reiterate that the use <strong>of</strong> EHR Modules is voluntary and we believe that most eligible<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and eligible hospitals that are adopting HIT for the first time will have a<br />

variety <strong>of</strong> Complete EHRs available from which to choose.<br />

We also clarify that only those EHR Modules that provide capabilities necessary<br />

to meet the definition <strong>of</strong> Certified EHR Technology will need to be tested and certified.<br />

That being said, eligible pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and eligible hospitals are free to utilize any other<br />

type <strong>of</strong> HIT to complement or in combination with Certified EHR Technology, including<br />

HIT that provides capabilities for other purposes not related to meaningful use.<br />

Comments. Some commenters suggested that our definition was too broad.<br />

Most <strong>of</strong> these commenters argued that we should permit eligible pr<strong>of</strong>essionals to adopt<br />

only Complete EHRs and EHR Modules that were certified as including only those<br />

capabilities applicable to their specialty or practice. In other words, these commenters<br />

sought for the definition <strong>of</strong> Certified EHR Technology to be interpreted in such a way as<br />

to permit different specialty-oriented variations <strong>of</strong> Certified EHR Technology to exist.<br />

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