ONC announced yesterday the first Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCBs): the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) and the Drummond Group, Inc (DGI). These groups are now authorized to certify both modular and complete EHRs. For a physician to qualify for the CMS meaningful use incentives, they must use a certified product.

In his testimony to Congress, David Blumenthal mentioned 25 other applications for ATCBs status. It will be interesting to see the amount of eventual number of ATCBs and their impact on the market.

The official HHS press release is here: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/08/20100830d.html
ONC's website listing the current ATCBs is here: http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&mode=2&objID=3120
And Dr. Blumenthal's testimony can be found here: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/2010Jul20_Blumenthal_Testimony.pdf