CUREMD EMR RECEIVES CCHIT CERTIFICATION

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHITSM) today announced that CureMD Corporation’s EHR 9.0 is CCHIT CertifiedSM, and meets CCHIT ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) criteria for 2006. Ambulatory EHRs 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 EHRs.

As a CCHIT Certified product, EHR 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 EHR 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 EHR products can now be measured using certification criteria that were developed specifically for that purpose.”

“CCHIT certification reinforces our vision that personalization of care delivery positively impacts service quality, patient safety and practice efficiency. CureMD’s integrated practice management and EHR platform allows physicians to make informed decisions by facilitating the prevention and management of disease through configurable workflows, preventive care guidelines and integrated decision support; ultimately allowing providers to optimize efficiency and deliver higher quality patient care at a lower cost” said Kamal Hashmat, CureMD Corporation CEO 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 EHRs 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 EHR functions such as potential adverse drug reactions, disease management and treatment plans.

About CureMD Corporation
CureMD is a provider of customizable products and services designed to personalize care delivery, enhance quality and patient safety, streamline workflows, optimize efficiency and minimize costs. Our integrated EHR, practice management, CurePatient portal and mobile solutions make CureMD the solution of choice for a rapidly growing community of physicians, payers and patients worldwide. To learn more about CureMD’s solutions and services, visit www.curemd.com.

About CCHIT
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHITSM) is an independent, nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the federal government as an official certification body for electronic health record products. Its mission is to accelerate the adoption of health information technology by creating a credible, sustainable product certification program. The certification requirements are based on widely accepted industry standards and involve the work of hundreds of expert volunteers and input from a variety of stakeholders throughout the health care industry. More information on CCHIT and CCHIT CertifiedSM products is available at www.cchit.org.