EHNAC Announces Finalized Criteria for the Health Information Exchange Accreditation Program

Third-party accreditation ensures HIE adherence to industry-established standards for health information technology (HIT)

FARMINGTON, Conn. – October 19, 2010 – The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body, today announced the adoption of finalized criteria for its Health Information Exchange Accreditation Program (HIEAP). Final criteria and more details on HIEAP may be found here.

Before finalizing the criteria, EHNAC implemented two separate phases of 60-day public review and comment of the draft HIEAP criteria, the first of which focused on privacy and security, technical performance, business practices and organizational resources, while the second phase addressed HIE-specific policies as developed by the organization’s HIE Advisory Board. EHNAC’s Criteria Committee and HIE Advisory Board then reviewed all public comments and developed a final criteria version for the HIE accreditation program for immediate use.

“We’ve worked closely with multiple industry organizations and stakeholders and have given careful consideration to the public comments received during this effort to launch the industry’s only accreditation program for HIE data exchange and processing,” said Mark Gingrich, commissioner and criteria committee chair of EHNAC. “The evolving nature of recent state and federal legislation has led us to review, revise and update our drafted criteria to specifically account for the most current changes in the healthcare industry.”

The HIE accreditation program identifies a standard for privacy and security as it relates to consent, authorization, authentication, access and audit procedures, and is designed for HIE’s), community health data/network partnerships and other groups that promote data sharing across multiple, independent stakeholders.

About EHNAC

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) is a voluntary, self-governing standards development organization (SDO) established to develop standard criteria and accredit organizations that electronically exchange healthcare data. These entities include electronic health networks, payers, financial services firms, health information exchanges and e-prescribing solution providers.

EHNAC was founded in 1993 and is a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization. Guided by peer evaluation, the EHNAC accreditation process promotes quality service, innovation, cooperation and open competition in healthcare. To learn more, visit www.ehnac.org or contact info@ehnac.org.