Key part of EHR incentive program halted due to government shutdown

A key function of the electronic health-record (EHR) incentive payment program was shut down along with much of the federal government. Multiple operations of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology stopped, according to a 13-page HHS contingency staffing plan.

They include administration of the Certified Health Information Technology Product List, or CHPL, a public repository of complete and modular EHR systems that have been tested and certified to standards developed by the ONC. Providers must use only products from the list to qualify for “meaningful use” of EHRs and receive payments under the program, which has thus far paid out $16.2 billion to hospitals, physicians and other eligible professionals.