New York, NY (April 30, 2007) – The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT SM ) today announced that CureMD Corporation's EMR 9.0 is CCHIT Certified SM , and meets CCHIT ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) criteria for 2006. Ambulatory EMRs are designed for physician offices and clinics where most Americans get their healthcare. CCHIT is a Recognized Certification Body in the United States for certifying health information technology products – an independent, nonprofit organization that sets the benchmark for EMRs. 

As a CCHIT Certified product, EMR v9.0 has been tested and passed inspection of 100 percent of a set of criteria for:

• Functionality (ability to create and manage electronic records for all patients, as well as automating workflow in a physician's office)
• Interoperability (a first step in the ability to receive and send electronic data to other entities such as laboratories), and
• Security (ability to keep patients' information safe)

The CCHIT Certified mark — a “seal of approval” for EMR products — provides the first consensus-based, consistent benchmark for ambulatory products. By looking to products with the CCHIT Certified seal, physicians and other providers can be assured they are making a reliable investment and insurers and other payers know the products meet expected industry standards. 

“Physician who purchase certified products have the assurance that they have been reviewed by a panel of judges, including practicing physicians and that they are being evaluated against standards set by professionals in the field and successfully piloted with products from large and small companies,” said Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., chair, CCHIT. “The quality and safety of EMR products can now be measured using certification criteria that were developed specifically for that purpose.”

“CCHIT certification reaffirms our vision that personalization of care delivery directly impacts service quality, patient safety and practice efficiency. CureMD's integrated practice management and EMR platform allows physicians to provide disease management and preventive care services through configurable workflows to help make informed decisions, optimize efficiency and ultimately higher quality patient care at a lower cost” said Kamal Hashmat, CEO CureMD Corporation on receiving successful certification status.

The goals of CCHIT product certification are to reduce the risk of HIT investment by physicians and other providers; ensure interoperability of HIT products; enhance the availability of HIT adoption incentives from purchasers and payers; and protect the privacy of personal health information.

CCHIT's certification compliance criteria and its design for a certification inspection process have been thoroughly researched, taking into account the state of the art of EMRs and available standards and comparing certification processes in other industries and other countries. 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. One script, for example, recreates a scenario of an elderly man with poorly controlled diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions in order to test EMR functions such as potential adverse drug reactions, disease management and treatment plans.