Complete vs. Modular EHR Certification – What’s the Difference?

There are two types of certification that a product can receive: Modular or Complete. The difference between the two is more than just a sign of how much functionality the product contains. What is more important for you to know as an organization is, you need some product or combination of products that meets all 34 Ambulatory crtieria to be able to receive Meaningful Use funds.

A software vendor can elect to become certified in less than all 34 criteria. When they do this, they receive the status of Modular Certification. Does that mean you can’t use their product to apply for MU funds? No. What it does mean is, the onus is on you to find another product or combination of products that meet the rest of the 34 criteria before you can claim to be using a Certified EHR and qualify for Meaningful Use funds. For some organizations, modular is going to make sense because you may be using a variety of systems now that would meet all criteria. Keep in mind though, that you have to then go through your own certification process on that combination of systems. If you wonder what the certification process for an organization is like, here’s a great read about the process.

So what are the 34 criteria? Below is a list of the criteria that Echo met to receive complete certification with Clinician’s Desktop. This info is also available on the ONC Certification website.

Note that the criteria fall into three categories: General, Ambulatory and Clinical Quality Measures. You must meet all General and Ambulatory measures as well as 9 of the Clinical Quality Measures for a product to be considered to have Complete Certification. If you wonder the difference between Ambulatory and Inpatient Certification, you can read more about that here.

The Echo Group – Clinician’s Desktop™ 8.13 Certifying ATCB: Drummond Group Inc. | CHPL Product Number: 02092011-9053-8 Classification: Complete EHR | Practice Setting:Ambulatory Additional Software Required:Dr. First for medication orders, maintaining active medication lists, drug formulary checking, drug-drug/drug-allergy interaction testing, and e-Prescribing. Email for demonstrating the exchange of patient summaries and message hash General Criteria (170.302) (a) Drug-drug, drug-allergy interaction checks (b) Drug formulary checks (c) Maintain up-to-date problem list (d) Maintain active medication list (e) Maintain active medication allergy list (f) Record and chart vital signs (g) Smoking status (h) Incorporate laboratory test results (i) Generate patient lists (j) Medication reconciliation (k) Submission to immunization registries (l) Public health surveillance (m) Patient specific education resources (n) Automated measure calculation (o) Access control (p) Emergency access (q) Automatic log-off (r) Audit log (s) Integrity (t) Authentication (u) General encryption (v) Encryption when exchanging electronic health information (w) Accounting of disclosures (optional)

Ambulatory Criteria (170.304) (a) Computerized provider order entry (b) Electronic prescribing (c) Record demographics (d) Patient reminders (e) Clinical decision support (f) Electronic copy of health information (g) Timely access (h) Clinical summaries (i) Exchange clinical information and patient summary record (j) Calculate and submit clinical quality measures

Ambulatory Clinical Quality Measures

NQF 0001 Asthma Assesment

NQF 0002 Pharyngitis- Children

NQF 0004 Alcohol and Drug Dependence

NQF 0012 Prenatal Care: HIV Screening

NQF 0013 Hypertension: Blood Pressure Measurement

NQF 0014 Prenatal Care: Anti-D immune Globulin

NQF 0018 Controlling High Blood Pressure

NQF 0024 Youth Weight Assesment

NQF 0027 Tobacco Use Cessation

NQF 0028 Prevenitive Care: Tobacco Use Assesment and Cessation

NQF 0031 Breast Cancer Screening

NQF 0032 Cervical Cancer Screening

NQF 0033 Chlamydia Screening for Women

NQF 0034 Colorectal Cancer Screening

NQF 0036 Appropriate Medications for Asthma

NQF 0038 Childhood Immunization Status

NQF 0041 Influenza Immunization

NQF 0043 Pnemonia Vaccination

NQF 0047 Asthma Pharmacologic Therapy

NQF 0052 Use of Imaging Study: Low Back Pain

NQF 0055 Diabetes: Eye Exam

NQF 0056 Diabetes: Foot Exam

NQF 0059 Diabetes Control: Hemoglobin A1c >9.0%

NQF 0061 Diabetic Patients who elevated mmhg V140/90

NQF 0062 Nephropathy Screening- Urine

NQF 0064 Diabetes Control: LDL < 100mg/dl

NQF 0067 Antiplatelet Therapy

NQF 0068 Ischemic Vascular Disease: Asparin or other Antithrombotic

NQF 0070 Coronoary Artery Disease: Beta Blocker Therapy Post Myocadial Infarction

NQF 0073 Blood Pressure Management: Ischemic Valve Disease

NQF 0074 Corinary Artery Disease: Lipid Lowering Therapy

NQF 0075 IVD: Complete Lipid Panel and LDL Control

NQF 0081 Heart Failure: ACE/ ARB Therapy For LVSD (LVEF <40%)

NQF 0083 Heart Failure: Beta Blocker for LVSD

NQF 0084 Heart Failure: Warfarin Therapy

NQF 0086 Primary Open Angle Glaucoma

NQF 0088 Diabetic Retinopathy: Macular Edema

NQF 0089 Diabetes Management: Retinopathy Screening

NQF 0105 Depression Management

NQF 0385 Colon Cancer: Chemotherapy

NQF 0387 Breast Cancer: Hormonal Therapy

NQF 0389 Prostate Cancer: Avoid overuse of Bone Scan

NQF 0421 Adult Weight Screening

NQF 0575 Diabetes Control: Hemoglobin A1c <8.0%