Health IT giants Epic and Cerner will provide CMS with test EHRs to let providers demonstrate they can electronically share information with disparate systems, according to Health Data Management.
The two newcomers join iPatientCare as the three CMS Designated Test EHR Program participants.
McKesson and MEDITECH previously participated in the program, but are no longer doing so. Additionally, athenahealth participated in the pilot program before it officially launched in January 2014.
"The CMS Designated Test EHR Program is a voluntary program. Developers are not required to participate for any specific period," an ONC spokesperson told Health Data Management when asked why vendors are moving on from the program.
The test program was launched to help eligible hospitals, providers and critical access hospitals show achievement of meaningful use stage 2's transitions of care objective. Test EHRs are registered on a software system called the EHR Randomizer, which matches an eligible professional, hospital or critical access hospital with a test EHR different from the one they currently use.
According to Health Data Management, more than 4,000 providers have registered with the program to conduct tests, and more than 5,000 have attested to the care transitions core objective.
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