11/2009► On 11/3/2009 the Drummond Group threw its hat into the ring to certify EHR systems breaking CCHIT's monopoly on certifying EHR systems. On 11/13/2009 Mark Leavitt MD, CCHIT's CEO, announced his retirement. On 11/15/2009 the 6 week "HIT 1115 Project" begins, which is the call for all physicians that accept Medicare to become "non-par" status in reaction against the HITECH Act and the upcoming 21% pay cut. On this date the NY Times published a review of 3000 hospitals, stratified into 3 groups according to stage of EHR adoption to see if the certified EHR is performing as it should. Title: "Little Benefit Seen, So Far, in Electronic Patient Records."

10/2009► The Herb Conaway NJ bill to make the dissemination of any non-certified EHR in the state of New Jersey illegal after 1/1/2011 remains stalled after I was able to find the vendor trade group lobbying donations in his disclosure statements, as well as other inappropriate vendor-related activity. It now seems to have been shelved. On the NJ Bill website, all that is seen for Bill A4062 is: "6/8/2009 Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee." Senator Grassley begins to question the value of the certified EHR.

7/16/2009► CCHIT loses its bid to be the defacto certification agency for the HITECH Act when the HHS finally cuts its association and funding due to incessant blog activities on the internet. I initiated the first major blows with a volley of over 70 letters, including a complaint to the FTC. See my The End of CCHIT? MDNG column article.

12/21/2007► Bush's $5 billion "HIT-tie-in" bill passes through Congress as an attachment to the physician pay restoration bill but at the last moment the bill got defunded after a patient of mine was able to distribute my PPT presentation in Congress. The bill, S. 2499 was eventually signed by President Bush, but never heard of again.

8/2006► I was able to download the not-for-profit CCHIT's Incorporation Papers (PDF1) which posted how CCHIT's Board planned to distribute its profits at the end of the year. Their 9/2006 meeting minutes (PDF2) claimed that CCHIT was looking for a million dollars in profits for their work in the latter 6 months of 2006. CCHIT stopped posting their monthly minutes for 3 months, then reincorporated on 12/2006.