Oncology Information System Certified for Use to Show Stage 1 and 2 Meaningful Use of an Electronic Health Record

An oncology information system has been certified for use to demonstrate stage 1 and 2 meaningful use (MU) of an electronic health record (EHR). Clinicians will soon be able to use the system to qualify for funding under the US government’s program to improve clinical care by promoting the adoption and effective use of EHRs at healthcare institutions.

The ARIA system for both medical and radiation oncology were assessed and certified as a Complete Ambulatory EHR under the Drummond Group’s (Austin, TX, USA) Electronic Health Records Office of the US National Coordinator Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) program. The Drummond Group’s ONC-ACB certification program certifies that EHRs meet the MU criteria for eligible providers.

Varian Medical Systems’ (Palo Alto, CA, USA) ARIA software system is a comprehensive electronic medical record and image management system that combines patient data into a streamlined, oncology-specific medical chart with functional components for managing clinical, administrative, and financial operations for radiation, medical, and surgical oncology. The certification means that the software complies with criteria adopted by the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services for electronic healthcare records. Eligible providers can now qualify to receive federal stimulus monies upon demonstrating meaningful use of Varian’s certified software system for establishing and maintaining electronic healthcare records.

“Enhancing the ARIA system to qualify for this certification was a significant achievement and the result of close collaboration with members of the clinical oncology community,” said Sukhveer Singh, vice president of Varian’s continuum solutions group, a team working to provide software solutions that enable more patient-centered and outcome-driven care along the care continuum. “While this certification is relevant only to clinical sites in the US, we are confident that many of the interoperability and quality measures that were added to ARIA will be of great use to the wider global community of clinicians.”

The ARIA oncology information system (version 11 MR5), combined with the Equicare Health Solutions Active patient portal (version 4.2) for providing patients with secure web-based access to important portions of their medical records, were certified together to meet the US requirements for complete ambulatory EHR.

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Drummond Group
Varian Medical Systems