CCHIT set to close its operations

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) has announced that it will end all of its business operations by November 14.

CCHIT was founded in 2004 and began certifying electronic health record (EHR) systems in 2006. In 2012, CCHIT partnered with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

In January, CCHIT announced that it would no longer conduct EHR system testing or issue ONC accreditation for meaningful use. Instead, the organization shifted its focus to global health IT efforts.

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In a written statement announcing the closure, CCHIT Executive Director Alisa Ray said she’s proud of what the organization has accomplished, but the future health IT environment is uncertain.

“Though CCHIT attained self-sustainability as a private independent certification body and continued to thrive as an authorized ONC testing and certification body, the slowing of the pace of ONC 2014 Edition certification and the unreliable timing of future federal health IT program requirements made program and business planning for new services uncertain. CCHIT’s trustees decided that, in the current environment, operations should be carefully brought to a close,” said Ray.

CCHIT plans to donate its remaining assets to the Health Information Management Systems Society.