The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology will re-start EMR certification on April 7, about three weeks after it stopped testing software products. CCHIT had said it would wait until it could earn accreditation as a certifying body from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, but the organization has decided to go forward after separating its comprehensive "CCHIT Certified" program from its "Preliminary ARRA" testing process. The latter is based on ONC's interim final rule on standards and certification, published in January. "Although as yet there is no government program in place to accredit organizations such as CCHIT to certify EHRs, we feel it is important to move forward with our mission to encourage the adoption of health information technology to meet the needs of physicians and other health care providers, and of patients," CCHIT Executive Director Alisa Ray says in a statement. CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt was to step down March 31. Press release