* I just found several blog posts that I had written but never posted. Sorry that these are late but there are still worthy of a link or two.
I just saw some serious lame legislation proposed out of New Jersey by some ill-informed congressional lackey legislating that all EHR’s be certified through CCHIT. This is absolutely ridiculous. Do you really want to outlaw Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault in the Garden State? I mean get real!
* CCHIT later published some comments about this
The unintended consequences of such legislation is highly problematic and well described by David Kibbe, Fred Trotter, Ignacious Valdez and others. I have seen CCHIT make great efforts to correct this and make the process more open but they have a fundamentally flawed and constrictive position – that they alone can bestow the quality seal of approval on software.
They don’t realize, of course, that any attempt to subvert innovation will be futile. “Life (or in this case innovation) always finds a way”. The notion of a new type of communication platform that will emerge as a result is already underway. Designated “Groupware” by David Kibbe or a new “Communication” platform by Myca or American Well, new tools will continue to emerge that defy current descriptions. Are you sure you want to lock down into today’s technologies through an already arcane certification process?
I would strongly argue that standardizing features and functionality is not the problem. These should be allowed to freely evolve and grow per the needs of users and the skills of developers. What should be standardized is the interoperability requirements of data, the database requirements, and related infrastructure elements that will enable the data to be truly liberated. These standards will do more for the industry than any other single legislative or policy initiative. This is where we need government help to force agreement on specific principles where the choice is not as consequential as just making a decision (driving on left or right side of the road is irrelevant; but it is clear that we need to make the determination!).
Legislative mandates for features and functions = #FAIL!
Scott Shreeve, MD 
Hi Scott, your blog is hilarious, and I share your feelings about CCHIT, coming from one physician beaten up by an HMO dominated market to another, like you, I tired of talking about problems a few years ago to focus on solutions, and we have come up with a couple of good ones which marry health 2.0, transparency, entrepeneurship for MD’s , integrated PHR/EMR of course, rolled up with a little social media and ecommerce, and of course house calls, the only TRUE patient centric practice.
Natalie Hodge MD FAAP
Extremely curious blog blurb.