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Nov. 19 - MITRE - CCHIT Health IT Collaboration Effort—“LAIKA”—Reports Progress

The MITRE Corporation and the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHITSM) announced the next phase in their collaborative effort to build a testing resource to evaluate compliance of electronic health records (EHR) and networks with interoperability certification criteria. The effort, named “LAIKA,” is an open source software testing framework, distributed via an Apache 2.0 open source license. This development effort will make it easier for electronic health record vendors to test and verify that their products support standards-based information exchange capabilities and prepare for CCHIT certification. LAIKA will be a free and publicly available EHR testing tool with an anticipated release date of version 1.0 by March 21, 2008.

According to Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, chair of the Certification Commission, “This project is an important first step in our journey toward testing and certifying the interoperability of health IT systems.”

MITRE and the Certification Commission are currently engaged in joint technical meetings, scheduling sessions and framework discussions. Upcoming events in preparation for the March 2008 version 1.0 release can be found here—a newly launched website that will track the progress reports and technical aspects of the project. Registration for LAIKA project announcements, information about future technical meetings, and an overview of the LAIKA software design can also be obtained through the LAIKA project website.

“We are excited about this open source project and look forward to a community effort, building a tool that supports the EHR certification process established by the Certification Commission,” says Rob McCready, the LAIKA technical lead.

MITRE and the Certification Commission—both independent, nonprofit organizations —have a complementary vision for the development of robust, interoperable health IT and a common mission in supporting the government, private enterprise and the public in attaining that goal. To achieve that, the initiative is designed as an open source project. With MITRE’s guidance and oversight, any individual or organization is free to propose contributions to the project’s engineering technology. The resulting work will be freely and publicly available. Health IT companies of all sizes will be able to take advantage of this shared resource as they are developing new products.

“MITRE is focusing on health information technology as one area in the health sector where we can serve the public interest. The testing framework for certification of EHRs represents an excellent opportunity where MITRE can help meet one of the nation’s critical needs” states Rob Jensen, Healthcare Executive Director.

Source: CCHIT

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