EHNAC Releases Legislative Crosswalks for 2009 and 2010 Accreditation Programs

New Matrices Outline Synergies and Gaps within Existing Criteria

FARMINGTON, Conn. – November 30, 2009 – The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body, today released legislative crosswalk matrices for 2009 and 2010 EHNAC program criteria.

In an effort to more closely align with key provisions of the federal legislation, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, EHNAC developed these documents to outline the synergies and gaps within existing EHNAC program criteria. The Legislative Crosswalk matrices include changes to the EHNAC program criteria which have been fully reviewed and managed by the EHNAC criteria committee. The crosswalks are available at the Lesislative Crosswalk link here.

The ARRA and related HITECH Act present unique demands on the compliance efforts of healthcare organizations. Monitoring all the changes and their implications — across privacy and confidentiality, technical performance, business processes, organizational resources and security — can be a daunting task, said Lee Barrett, executive director of EHNAC. Fortunately, it’s one of the tasks that an accrediting body like EHNAC is designed to support.

The Legislative Crosswalk matrices provide information about EHNAC criteria changes as they relate to compliance with not only the security and privacy regulations within the 2009 legislation, but also Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) rules and proper management of protected health information (PHI).

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 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.