February 10 – The Echo Group’s Clinician’s Desktop™ electronic health record software has received the federal government’s “meaningful use” stamp of approval earning Complete EHR Ambulatory Certification. This designation officially deems Echo’s Clinician’s Desktop (EHR) software capable of enabling providers to qualify for Meaningful Use funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Last week Clinician’s Desktop™ was tested and certified under the Drummond Group’s Electronic Health Records Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB) program.  Echo demonstrated the ability to perform all 34 of the required certification tests.  Echo was able to pass all of the tests in one day, without any need for re-testing or follow up testing dates.  Clinician’s Desktop™ is now 2011/2012 compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

“It was imperative for us to achieve complete certification early in the year, providing customers as much time as possible to execute internal strategies for pursuing ARRA dollars.  There have been a lot of questions and misinformation about partial certification, complete certification, and the implications for behavioral health organizations.  It’s clear that a completely certified EHR solution is the only path to Meaningful Use ARRA funding and the only option for Echo to bring real value to our customers.” remarked Didi Owen, Director of Clinical Engineering for The Echo Group.

“As we worked to tune our product line to address certification requirements, our focus was also on maximizing ease of use.  We believe that true Meaningful Use of an EHR will not be achieved unless the product is intuitive.  This philosophy is at the core of Echo’s product design approach”, continued Owen.

Paul Kirsch, Director of Marketing at The Echo Group, offered “Our team completed the test in record time, demonstrating all requirements in 7 hours.  Echo’s easy to use products were important in this outcome, but it’s also a testament to our experience, expertise and insight into the needs of our customers and meaningful use.”

Behavioral health and social service organizations that meet the criteria for Meaningful Use of a certified EHR can receive up to $63,750 per eligible provider, which can significantly reduce the cost of ownership.

About The Echo Group
Since 1980, The Echo Group has been developing enterprise software applications that have been used nationwide to address the needs of Behavioral Health organizations. Echo offers a suite of Windows-based and Web-based applications for Administrative, Clinical EHR and Billing functions. They also offer a suite of services, including Transaction Management Billing Services and Fiscal and Clinical Process Workflow Analysis. The company is headquartered in Conway, New Hampshire, and also has offices in Lewiston, Maine, Powell, Ohio and Oakland, California.

For more information contact Paul Kirsch, Director of Marketing at paul.kirsch@echoman.com or visit www.echoman.com.

Learn more about how to navigate the Meaningful Use process by attending one of our MU Web Seminars.

About Drummond Group

Drummond Group Inc., the trusted software test lab, provides effective and efficient electronic health record (EHR) testing to healthcare information technology vendors and hospitals. As an Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB), Drummond Group works closely with healthcare software vendors and hospitals to certify EHRs that are looking to qualify for incentive funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  Drummond Group is approved to certify both complete and modular EHR for both ambulatory and inpatient.  Leveraging more than a decade’s worth of interoperability, conformance testing and certification experience in multiple industries, Drummond Group delivers what’s needed in healthcare: highly reliable and readily affordable software testing services. For more information, go to www.drummondgroup.com.