I. Background

The Health Information Technology Standards Committee (HITSC) is a federal advisory committee that advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) on federal HIT standards issues, including electronic health record (EHR) certification criteria and implementation specifications for the meaningful use of EHRs for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Eligible professionals (EP) and eligible hospitals (EH) who seek to qualify for incentive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs are required by statute to use Certified EHR Technology.  Once certified, Complete EHRs and EHR Modules can be used by EPs and EHs, or be combined, to meet the statutory requirement for Certified EHR Technology. (more…)