ONC released two changes to its certification program in an effort to increase efficiency and reduce industry burden, Office of Standards and Technology Director Steven Posnack and Office of Policy Director Elise Sweeney Anthony wrote in an agency blog post published Sept. 21.
The changes affect ONC-Authorized Certification Bodies and ONC-Authorized Testing Laboratories.
Here are the two changes to the ONC Health IT Certification Program.
1. More than 50 percent of the program's test procedures are now self-declared. ONC revised 30 out of its 55 certification criteria — including some those adopted to support CMS Quality Payment Programs — to be "self-declaration only."
"This means that health IT developers will self-declare their product's conformance to these criteria without having to spend valuable time testing with an ONC-ATL," they wrote.
2. ONC will exercise discretion for randomized surveillance of certified health IT products. Although ONC-ACBs are required to conduct random surveillance testing at a minimum of 2 percent of the health IT certifications they issue, ONC said it will not audit ONC-ACBs for compliance until further notice.
"This exercise of enforcement discretion will permit ONC-ACBs to prioritize complaint driven, or reactive, surveillance and allow them to devote their resources to certifying health IT to the 2015 Edition," they wrote.
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