According to Corley, the industry is growing and physicians are becoming more aware of the importance of having industry standards for electronic medical records.  Purchase of such costly equipment is an important decision, which can be facilitated by the formal testing and certification of products like EMR.  Certification such as this provides a sense of security to the purchaser that the requirements for the product have been met.

Certification from CCHIT involves testing of the product with over 300 criteria, the company’s submittal of written information about the product, and an evaluation of the product by a board of jurors made up of clinicians, health professionals and security experts.  NextGen is the first vendor to earn the 2007 CCHIT Certification. They received the 2006 certification, which was good for three years, but as criteria becomes more specified each year, NextGen opted to voluntarily submit to a recertification in 2007. The inspection process is based on real-life medical scenarios designed to test products rigorously against the clinical needs of providers and the quality and safety needs of healthcare consumers and payers. According to Corley, the requirements for this product become more stringent each year in an effort to help physicians do their best for quality reporting.  She says, EMR will help improve healthcare with a system that will not only meet the customer’s needs now but well into the future.