Electronic Health Information Technology FAQs

Q: What is HIT?
A: Health Information Technology.

Q: What is CCHIT?
A: CCHIT stands for Certification Commission for Health Information Technology. They were the primary organization for certifying electronic health information technology prior to the passage of ARRA.

Q: What is ARRA?
A: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law February 17, 2009. It provides incentives for converting to certified electronic health information technology. The requirements for being US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Certified under ARRA are not established yet. A number of institutions will likely handle certification.

Q: What does certification mean?
A: It means that the product meets the established standards and users of the product may qualify for the incentive payments. No product has HHS certification yet. These standards must be established by December, 2009.

Q: How can I qualify for the ARRA incentive program?
A: Generally, you must have meaningful use of an HHS Certified HIT. If you qualify, payment is received after the fact. You cannot receive payment in advance of implementation. Payments are based on a percentage of Medicare or Medicaid charges. If you do not have Medicare or Medicaid patients in your practice, you will not qualify for incentives.

Q: What is meaningful use?
A: Meaningful use requires that you demonstrate to HHS your use of an electronic health record in a meaningful manner, that you participate in e-prescribing, that you can electronically exchange health information with other providers, and that you can provide clinical quality data measures to HHS.

Q: Does Occupational Health Research plan to seek HHS certification of SYSTOC?
A: Most occupational health clinics do not bill Medicare/Medicaid and do not need a certified program, but our urgent care and physical therapy clients may do this type of billing. Accordingly, we are working hard to write a new version of SYSTOC that will meet certification requirements and the anticipated future needs of medical providers.

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