If you or your organization were involved with seeking certification for a particular Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology under the government’s temporary certification program, now is your chance to comment on the successes (or failures) of that program. The Health Information Standards Committee (HISC) is accepting comments on the temporary certification program through 5 p.m. on June 17, 2011.

Every provider participating in the government’s EHR Incentive Program must demonstrate that it is meaningfully using “Certified EHR Technology.” Whether a provider is meaningfully using its software is addressed by CMS’s Meaningful Use rules. Whether a particular technology is “certified” however, depends on whether it has received certification from an accredited certifying entity according to the provisions of the Temporary Certification Program described in rules issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Many providers that sought to have their own in-house technology certified dealt directly with the ONC or one of its designated organizations to receive Stage 1 certification. If you were not involved, you can read more about the Temporary Certification Program at the ONC’s dedicated website.