The Health IT Policy Committee’s Certification and Adoption Workgroup recently held a virtual hearing on a proposed long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) certification program. The virtual hearing pulled together over 20 experts representing various perspectives on the topic.

The workgroup was interested in understanding what experts felt should be the minimum floor for LTPAC certification criteria, in addition to any unintended consequences and how they could be mitigated. 

Key themes that arose from the discussion:

• Real-time information on medications is critical for closing the gap on adverse drug events.
• Although CCHIT certification for LTPAC EHRs exists today, it was developed before ONC certification programs were in place and hasn’t been updated since. Clear gaps exists.
• Harmonization between administrative reporting requirements is critical.
• Existing standards combined with the Plan of Care specification could provide a comprehensive set of requirements for certification.

Lantana Consulting Group was invited to provide testimony.  We suggested leveraging the Meaningful Use (MU) program to improve LTPAC health information technology capabilities and patient-centered care. We also offered tactics for leveraging Stage 2 requirements while moving toward Stage 3 objectives.  A copy of our testimony is available here. And a link to the full audio is here.