The 2015 Edition final rule was released earlier this fall and ONC has continued to update the landing page for the final rule with new resources, charts, and fact sheets. Our goal is to provide, in one place, educational resources that inform a variety of stakeholders.

So far, for example, we have released charts on the 2015 Edition certification criteria, reader-friendly fact sheets on specific topics like addressing health disparities and patient engagement, and the Companion Certification Guides. We also have a new “2015 Edition Standards Hub” to help stakeholders quickly crosswalk and identify standards referenced by 2015 Edition certification criteria.

Check out the materials below and check back for new materials, which we plan to release in the future on other topic areas. We welcome stakeholder input on both our current guidance and on potential future areas for guidance that would be helpful to you. Let us know what you think by sending any comments, questions, and/or requests to ONC.Request@hhs.gov. Last, but not least, we also encourage you to check out the final rule itself for more information on the topics discussed in our guidance.

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• The “2015 Edition Certification Criteria” table identifies all the certification criteria included in the 2015 Edition final rule. The certification criteria in the table are categorized by mandatory and conditional certification criteria requirements, include a comparison to the 2014 Edition certification criteria, and highlight requirements for the EHR Incentive Programs Stage 3 and applicability to the broader care continuum.
• The 2015 Edition Base EHR definition table identifies the set of capabilities and associated 2015 Edition certification criteria that provide a foundation of functionality for all users of health IT. The definition is also part of the Certified EHR Technology definition under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive Programs.
• The “Certification to the 2015 Edition to Support Stage 3 of the EHR Incentive Programs in 2018 and Beyond” slides provide an example of what a Health IT Module presented for certification to the 2015 Edition may look like to support Meaningful Use Stage 3 in 2018 and beyond.
• The Common Clinical Data Set (CCDS) (previously known as the Common MU Data Set) table highlights our approach to make the ONC Health IT Certification Program more open and accessible to other types of health IT. This table provides a complete listing of the data included in the Common Clinical Data Set and the associated standards for both the 2014 Edition and 2015 Edition.
• The “2015 Edition Privacy and Security Certification Framework” table identifies our updated approach to privacy and security, which pairs the privacy and security certification criteria with the applicable to a Health IT Module presented for 2015 Edition certification.
• The “Gap Certification Eligibility” table provides a crosswalk of “unchanged” 2015 Edition certification criteria to the corresponding 2014 Edition. These “unchanged” certification criteria are eligible to be certified using test results from certification of health IT to the 2014 Edition at the discretion of ONC-Authorized Certification Bodies (ONC-ACBs).
• The “2015 Edition Standards Hub” identifies standards referenced by 2015 Edition certification criteria and provides hyperlinks to the specific standards.
• The fact sheets highlight some of the areas of health IT addressed by the 2015 Edition certification criteria, including criteria related to patient engagement, supporting care across the continuum, data segmentation for privacy, patient safety, and addressing health disparities. We plan to issue a few more, so don’t forget to let us know if other fact sheets would be helpful to you!
• The Certification Companion Guides (CCG) provides guidance and technical clarification to complement the 2015 Edition test procedures in a single, consolidated source for certification criteria clarifications. Although these guides are not undergoing a formal public comment period, we encourage stakeholders to review and send back any feedback to the ONC Health IT Certification Program via Certification@hhs.govwith “CCG” in the subject line.