Pulse Systems, Inc., an industry leading healthcare software and services organization, today announced the company’s electronic health records (EHR) product, included in Pulse Patient Relationship Management 4.1.02, is a fully CCHIT Certified® 2011 Ambulatory EHR with additional certification in Child Health. Pulse’s EHR is the first to receive full Comprehensive certification from the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), which is intended to give healthcare providers maximum assurance that a product will meet their needs, as well as support their achievement of Meaningful Use to qualify for the financial incentives available in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In addition, the Pulse EHR earned a five star rating for Usability, the highest rating.
To receive the 2011 CCHIT Comprehensive certification, the Pulse EHR had to undergo a rigorous inspection of integrated functionality, interoperability and security, in addition to achieving full compliance with proposed federal standards tied to ARRA “meaningful use” financial incentives. The Pulse product is the first EHR to receive this full certification, which requires verification by CCHIT of operational use at two physician offices. The EHR suite is part of the Pulse Patient Relationship Management solution, which unifies Electronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management (PM), Document Imaging Management (DIM), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and mobile Smartphone connectivity. The Pulse EHR previously was among the first to achieve the CCHIT 2006 & 2008 certification.
“We believe that this CCHIT certification confirms Pulse’s leadership and commitment to provide our customers with practical solutions that achieve compliance with the proposed federal standards and the ease of use that is vital to practice success,” said Basil Hourani, Pulse’s Chief Executive Officer. “We guarantee our EHR solution will qualify for the federal stimulus incentives available and we believe that this full 2011 CCHIT certification provides strong validation that our proven Pulse EHR solution, in use at practices across the nation right now, already meets or exceeds all the requirements. Further, the five star usability rating is a validation of the Pulse philosophy of developing products and services that provide ‘an easier way.’”
“The ARRA incentives have the potential to significantly accelerate adoption of EHR technology by office-based physicians, other eligible providers and hospitals,” said Alisa Ray, CCHIT executive director. “Companies demonstrating their compliance with the proposed Federal standards are now able to offer certified products to providers who wish to purchase and implement EHR technology and achieve meaningful use in time for the 2011-2012 incentives.”
The ARRA stimulus bill signed into law in February 2009 includes $46 billion in incentives to help encourage physicians and hospitals to invest in EHR systems. To qualify for these incentive payments, the stimulus law requires hospitals and physicians to demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs, which includes achieving the following objectives:
- Allow patients to access clinical information
- Comply with state and federal privacy, security and data sharing regulations
- Document patient progress and provide clinical summaries
- Exchange critical information with other care providers
- Implement drug interaction safeguards
- Send patient reminders about follow-up and preventive care
- Submit immunization and laboratory data to relevant public health registries
- Use computerized physician order entry systems to transmit prescription
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