Denticon became EHR certified in March 2015.
Denticon has been tested and certified under the Drummond Group's Electronic Health Records Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) program. This EHR software is compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Drummond Group’s ONC-ACB certification program certifies that EHRs meet the meaningful use criteria for either eligible provider or hospital technology. In turn, healthcare providers using the EHR systems of certified vendors are qualified to receive federal stimulus monies upon demonstrating meaningful use of the technology – a key component of the federal government’s push to improve clinical care delivery through the adoption and effective use of EHRs by U.S. healthcare providers.
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) is the organization responsible for certifying all EHR products in the U.S. under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA). To be CCHIT certified, standards that have currently been defined for medical make little sense in dental. For example, here are some of the requirements:
Denticon has been tested and certified under the Drummond Group's Electronic Health Records Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) program. This EHR software is compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Drummond Group’s ONC-ACB certification program certifies that EHRs meet the meaningful use criteria for either eligible provider or hospital technology. In turn, healthcare providers using the EHR systems of certified vendors are qualified to receive federal stimulus monies upon demonstrating meaningful use of the technology – a key component of the federal government’s push to improve clinical care delivery through the adoption and effective use of EHRs by U.S. healthcare providers.
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) is the organization responsible for certifying all EHR products in the U.S. under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA). To be CCHIT certified, standards that have currently been defined for medical make little sense in dental. For example, here are some of the requirements:
- Use CPOE (computerized physician order entry) for at least 80 percent of all orders
- Implement drug-drug, drug-allergy, drug- formulary checks
- Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses based on ICD-9-CM or SNOMED CT® (at least 80 percent of all unique patients)
- Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically (eRx) (at least 75 percent of all permissible prescriptions)
- Maintain active medication list (at least 80 percent of all unique patients)
- Maintain active medication allergy list (at least 80 percent of all unique patients)
- Record demographics.
- Record and chart changes in vital signs; additionally, plot growth chart for children age 2 to 20.
- Record smoking status for patients 13 years old or older
- Objective: Incorporate clinical lab-test results into EHR as structured data (at least 50 percent of all clinical lab tests)
It is apparent that the dental industry has essentially been left out of the government’s stimulus money. The biggest reason is not technical. The government rebates are calculated on how much electronic billing the provider did with Medicare. In some states a portion of Medicaid is also included. Additionally, there is a requirement that a large portion of the office’s patient population has to be Medicare patients. Medicare covers so little in dentistry that it is very unlikely even a reasonably sized group would fit the criteria.
Mostly, the stimulus dollars are going to hospitals, and very large physician groups which employ hundreds of providers. Some dental groups working out of hospitals have been able to attract stimulus dollars, but that may be the only way a dental office could receive funds. Dental enterprises which treat patients in senior care facilities and work on disabled patients may be covered by Medicare. Those enterprises may seek a waiver since there is no certification available to dental software systems.
As of now, the government doesn't have a certification program for dental records, and hence, none for dental software.
Denticon continues to monitor the progress, and looks forward to the time when a dental EHR is fully defined, since the Denticon practice management software is ideal to take advantage of the legislation on behalf of dentists.
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