What does 2015 Certified EHR mean to practicing clinicians? The once-flooded EHR market is now whittling down to those vendors equipped to respond to regulatory and industry changes. The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology listed more than 4,000 EHRs with 2014 certification criteria, according to the most recent data from healthIT.gov. And to date, only about 200 EHRs have passed the rigorous 2015 certification criteria.However, beyond the fact that 2015 is indeed the most recent certification criteria as issued by the HHS, why should medical practices care? When vendors certify their EHRs, physiciansand patientsare ultimately the beneficiaries, says Beth Onofri, EHR and industry advisor at Kareo, who led the 2015 Certification process for the Kareo Clinical EHR. Physicians benefit because the technology allows them to easily attest that theyve met quality requirements specified in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). This includes Advancing Care Information (ACI)-related measures that help physicians boost their payments. ACI accounts for 25 percent of a physicians performance score that dictates reimbursement under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Patients benefit because theyre able to access and exchange their own health information more easily than ever before. Its a win-win all around, says Onofri.

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