{"id":4592,"date":"2013-04-25T11:35:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T15:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthit.gov\/buzz-blog\/?p=4592"},"modified":"2025-07-15T14:41:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:41:58","slug":"ehr-certification-ongoing-process-oncs-office-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthit.gov\/blog\/insights-updates\/ehr-certification-ongoing-process-oncs-office-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"EHR Certification: An Ongoing Process for ONC\u2019s Office of Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Part of ONC\u2019s mission is to certify that electronic health record (EHR) products meet the standards and capabilities we have created. It\u2019s a big job, and we take it seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providers should be confident that when they buy and use a certified EHR, their product satisfies our requirements. That\u2019s why we review any complaints we receive about these products and make sure they are addressed, even to the point of revoking certification when necessary. In fact, we recently revoked the certification<\/a> of two such products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a Question about EHR Certification?<\/b><\/wp-block><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Health IT stakeholders can submit questions to ONC.Certification@hhs.gov<\/a>, a mailbox that we monitor daily \u2013 and we work hard to answer inquiries as quickly as possible. We coordinate our responses with our partners at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to make sure users are able to get the most up-to-date information and help them install the Test Method Program quickly and easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filing a Complaint with the Office of Certification<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When ONC receives a complaint, the Office of Certification conducts an initial investigation. If the complaint is not about EHR certification, it is referred to the appropriate ONC office. If it is EHR certification-related, we will conduct a preliminary review, which may require additional clarification or details.  If we can\u2019t resolve the issue here in ONC, the Authorized Certification Body (ACB) is contacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ONC Surveillance of Certified EHRs with Complaints<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the nature of the complaint, surveillance activities may be triggered. At this point, the ACB will conduct the surveillance. Because surveillance activities currently vary across the different ACBs, ONC is developing guidance on surveillance of certified EHRs to provide more consistency, as well as provide guidance to the ACBs on surveillance. We expect the guidance will be issued later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before being accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the ONC-Approved Accreditor (ONC-AA), each ACB applicant must submit a surveillance plan.  The complaints and surveillance guidance will also include information about different types of surveillance; \u201cproactive\u201d and \u201creactive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n