As of December 2005, Harbin had eliminated all nonelectronic documents from the practice; next month, the clinic forecasts that it will surpass 1 million electronic prescriptions written using the EHR system. Looking for Reassurance

Joe Paul, director of information systems at Morgan Haugh Medical Group, a multispecialty physician practice in Mayfield, Ky., said the first thing he did when he heard the certification announcement was to check to see if the Horizon Ambulatory Care Vision software from McKesson Corp. that his group uses had made the list.

"I found it comforting that they were on there," Paul said.

The certification will aid Morgan Haugh's plans to eventually be able to exchange medical information about its patients with other health care providers, he added.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said that the certification process means that "the possibility of doctors making a mistake in purchasing a system would be drastically reduced."