ASTP/ONC to exercise enforcement discretion for health IT developers for certain certification criteria

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The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT announced Nov. 24 that it will exercise temporary enforcement discretion for health IT developers regarding certification criteria compliance dates and attestations of condition and maintenance for certification to account for the impact of the lapse in government appropriations that rendered the ASTP/ONC website unavailable, including access to attestation submission portals, testing tools and other resources.

ASTP/ONC will exercise temporary enforcement discretion for compliance with certification program criteria dates for certain standards, effective Jan. 1, 2026, through March 1, 2026. In effect, health IT developers will have until Feb. 28, 2026 to complete updates to health IT modules for those criteria required under the Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: Certification Program Updates, Algorithm Transparency, and Information Sharing (HTI-1) final rule.

ASTP/ONC will also exercise temporary enforcement discretion of condition and maintenance of certification requirements for attestations that were due Oct. 31. Per the ONC Cures Act final rule, a health IT developer must provide attestation of condition and maintenance requirements semiannually for any health IT modules that have or have had an active certification at any time under the ONC Health IT Certification Program during the prior six months. A health IT developer is required to submit its attestation to an ONC-authorized certification body within a designated 30-day window twice a year in April and October. The agency said this will become effective immediately and continue through Jan. 1, 2026. This also allows health IT developers and ONC-ACBs through Dec. 31 to ensure submission of attestations for the period covering April through September. The deadline for April 2026 attestation submissions, which cover October 2025 through March 2026, will remain April 30, 2026.

Health Information Technology (HIT)