EHNAC Releases New 2017 Accreditation Criteria Versions for Public Review through Nov. 30

FARMINGTON, Conn., Sept. 30, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body for organizations that electronically exchange healthcare data, announced today that it has posted new versions of program criteria for public review. The open process for adopting criteria will last 60 days, commencing on Sept. 30, 2016 and ending on Nov. 30, 2016. Feedback is encouraged with regard to the necessity, appropriateness and workability of the criteria versions proposed for adoption. EHNAC seeks interested parties to provide opinions, comments and suggestions for the 18 enhanced 2016 criteria versions that have been developed for each of EHNAC’s accreditation programs.

“This year brought a number of impactful changes to nearly all of our accreditation programs, including updates relative to the OCR Phase II Protocol, aligning the HIPAA privacy and security criteria across all of our programs, and significant changes to the three DTAAP programs to reflect DirectTrust’s new releases of its Certificate and HISP Policies,” said Ron Moser, EHNAC Senior Site Reviewer/Auditor. “We look forward to receiving the industry’s feedback through this 60-day review process as we look to solidify these criteria versions moving into 2017.”

The 18 enhanced criteria programs and the new version numbers associated include:

1. ACOAP – Accountable Care Organization Accreditation Program (V2.0)
2. CEAP – Cloud Enabled Accreditation Program¹ (V1.1)
3. DRAP – Data Registry Accreditation Program (V2.0)
4. DTAAP-CA – Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program for Certificate Authorities (V2.0)
5. DTAAP-HISP – Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program for Health Information Service Providers (V2.0)
6. DTAAP-RA – Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program for Registration Authorities (V2.0)
7. ePAP-EHN – e-Prescribing Accreditation Program (V7.0)
8. EPCSCP-Pharmacy – Electronic Prescription of Controlled Substances Certification Program – Pharmacy Vendor (V2.0)
9. EPCSCP-Prescribing – Electronic Prescription of Controlled Substances Certification Program – Prescribing Vendor (V2.0)
10. FSAP-EHN – Financial Services Accreditation Program for Electronic Health Networks (V3.0)
11. FSAP-Lockbox – Financial Services Accreditation Program for Lockbox Services (V3.0)
12. HIEAP – Health Information Exchange Accreditation Program (V2.0)
13. HNAP-EHN – Healthcare Network Accreditation Program for Electronic Health Networks [Includes Payer] (V11.0)
14. HNAP-Medical Biller – Healthcare Network Accreditation Program for Medical Billers (V2.0)
15. HNAP-TPA – Healthcare Network Accreditation Program for Third Party Administrators (V2.0)
16. MSOAP – Management Service Organization Accreditation Program (V2.0)
17. OSAP – Outsourced Services Accreditation Program² (V2.0)
18. PMSAP – Practice Management System Accreditation Program (V2.0)

The EHNAC criteria for each of its accreditation programs sets the foundational requirements for measuring an organization’s ability to meet federal and state healthcare reform mandates such as HIPAA, Omnibus, ARRA/HITECH, ACA and other mandates for covered entities and business associates focusing on the areas of privacy, security, confidentiality, best practices, procedures and assets.

Visit www.ehnac.org for more details or to review the latest EHNAC criteria and submit feedback during this comment period through the Criteria Comment Form.

¹The Cloud Enabled Accreditation Program is provided only as an add-on program for organizations that have applied for another program. The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) must be FedRAMP-certified, and an additional site visit day is required for reviewing the details of this program.

²OSAP includes 10 different accreditation programs tailored for Accountable Care Organizations; Call Centers; Data Centers; DRP Facilities; Health Information Exchanges; Media Storage; Network Administrators; Printing; Product Development; and Scanning.

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 accountable care organizations, data registries, electronic health networks, EPCS vendors, eprescribing solution providers, financial services firms, health information exchanges, health information service providers, management service organizations, medical billers, outsourced service providers, payers, practice management system vendors and third-party administrators.

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, contact info@ehnac.org, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.