The first accreditations of Health Information Technology Certification Bodies and Test Laboratories have been announced.

In June 2011, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT selected the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as the ONC-Approved Accreditor (ONC-AA) for certification bodies. ANSI has completed their first round of accreditations for certification bodies, which may apply to ONC for authorization to certify Electronic Health Records (EHR) technologies in the ONC Permanent Certification Program. Five certification bodies were accredited.

For more information on the ANSI HIT Accreditation Program, please visit https://www.ansica.org/wwwversion2/outside/PROpilotONCHIT.asp?menuID=1.

Certification and testing of Electronic Health Record Technology in ONC’s Permanent Certification Program will be performed by separate entities. The National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) has been acknowledged by ONC, by regulation, as the Accreditation Body for Test Labs in the Permanent Certification Program. NVLAP has also completed their first round of accreditations for Test Labs to perform testing of EHR technologies against the adopted standards and certification criteria in the Permanent Certification Program. Five test labs were accredited.

For more information on the NVLAP HIT Laboratory Accreditation Program (LAP), please visit www.nist.gov/nvlap.

The Certification Bodies accredited by ANSI to participate in the Permanent Certification Program must be authorized by ONC. For information on requirements and the application process, please visit the ONC website at http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&mode=2&objID=3920. 

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