Passport's CareCertainty Service Achieves 2014 Edition Modular Health IT Certification from ICSA Labs to Support Meaningful Use Stage 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Passport, a part of Experian, has earned 2014 inpatient module ONC Health IT Certification* for its CareCertainty service, which designates that the software is capable of supporting healthcare providers with Stage 1 and Stage 2 Meaningful Use (MU2) requirements to qualify for federal incentives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

CareCertainty meets MU2 functionality to provide patients (and their authorized representatives) with a secure online method to view, download and transmit an electronic copy of their health information to a third party.

"We invest a great deal of resources to develop solutions that perform at or above the highest industry standards and help healthcare providers maintain compliance with federal requirements," said Scott MacKenzie, CEO, Passport. "CareCertainty supports better patient outcomes through population health management and now also will help healthcare organizations qualify for funding and avoid potential penalties."

Meaningful Use is a Medicare and Medicaid program that provides financial incentives for the "meaningful use" of certified EHR technology to improve patient care. To receive an EHR incentive payment, providers/hospitals must meet a number of criteria demonstrating "meaningful use" of a certified EHR product. Hospitals can qualify for EHR incentive payments totaling $2 million or more.

Hospitals/Providers must begin at Stage 1 and be compliant for a period of time before moving on to Stage 2, which begins in 2014. All providers will need to use a 2014 Edition certified EHR solution to meet MU requirements this year, whether they are doing Stage 1 or 2.

Passport CareCertainty was certified by ICSA Labs, an Office of the National Coordinator-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB), and is compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon, offers rigorous, vendor-neutral testing and awards 2014 Edition ONC Health IT Certification to technologies that are capable of supporting providers and hospitals with Stage 2 Meaningful Use, which focuses on the capability of health IT to deliver higher-quality patient care and exchange clinical information securely. ICSA Labs and other approved entities distinguish certifications for Modular and Complete products and Inpatient and Ambulatory.

CareCertainty is a Modular certified solution because it meets a specific requirement for the Inpatient setting: 170.314(e) (1): View, Download, and Transmit to a third party. Passport currently is seeking certification for the ambulatory domain as well so acute care and ambulatory facilities can use CareCertainty to meet MU2 requirements.

Eligible hospitals and providers may incur up-front (implementation) and ongoing (transaction or subscription) fees for Passport's CareCertainty, which is deployed as a Software-as-a-Service solution.

About ONC Certification
The ONC Certified HIT Technology program tests and certifies that Health IT technology is capable of meeting the 2014 Edition criteria approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). The certifications include Complete EHRs, which meet all of the 2014 Edition criteria for either eligible provider or hospital technology and EHR Modules, which meet one or more — but not all — of the criteria.

About ICSA Labs
ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon, offers third-party testing and certification of security and health IT products, as well as network-connected devices, to measure product compliance, reliability and performance for many of the world's top security vendors. ICSA Labs is an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited and 9001:2008 registered organization. ICSA Labs is NVLAP accredited as a Health IT Test Lab and is also an ONC-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) accredited by ANSI to ISO/IEC Guide 65. Visit http://www.icsalabs.com and http://www.icsalabs.com/blogs for more information.

About Passport
Passport, a part of Experian, creates solutions to enable hospitals and healthcare providers to improve business operations and achieve Payment Certainty for Every Patient^™. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., the organization is among the nation's fastest-growing Software-as-a-Service companies. The Passport eCare^™ brand of patient access and payment certainty solutions are delivered to over 2,500 U.S. hospitals and more than 9,000 other healthcare facilities in all 50 states. For more information, visit passporthealth.com. In November 2013, Passport was acquired by Experian, and the organization will be fully integrated into its Experian Healthcare group in 2014.

About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2013, was US$4.7 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

*This EHR Module is 2014 Edition compliant and has been certified by an ONC-ACB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Passport Patient CareCertainty was certified on Dec. 9, 2013, CHPL Product Number: 130101R00.

SOURCE Experian