FARMINGTON, Conn., Jan. 03, 2019 (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 the release of new criteria versions for all 18 of its accreditation programs for use starting January 1, 2019.
The significant updates to the 2019 criteria include the upgrade of all 18 stakeholder-specific accreditation programs to HITRUST CSF® Version 9.1. This update, incorporated by EHNAC in September 2018, includes the addition of EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and New York State Cybersecurity Requirements for Financial Services Companies (23 NYCRR 500). In addition to enhancing EHNAC’s accreditation programs with criteria that will support GDPR and NYCRR requirements, all 18 accreditation programs will include new criteria regarding the use of international vendors and locations as well as added third-party Cloud Service Provider (CSP) criteria.
Healthcare industry stakeholders are encouraged to regularly visit the EHNAC website to download and review the latest EHNAC criteria versions in full detail. Applicant candidates commencing the accreditation or re-accreditation process in 2019 will be required to adhere to these updated criteria versions.
Following the standard, 60-day public comment period, EHNAC’s criteria committee and commission has incorporated public feedback to finalize and adopt the enhanced and final criteria versions for the following accreditation programs:
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.
1The Cloud Enabled Accreditation Program has been modified for 2019. Many criteria covered by the prerequisite to use only FedRAMP-certified CSPs has been eliminated.
2OSAP includes 10 different accreditation programs tailored for Accountable Care Organization Technology Service Providers; Call Centers; Data Centers; DRP Facilities; Health Information Exchange Technology Service Providers; Media Storage; Network Administrators; Printing; Product Development; and Scanning. Support has been added for accrediting Cloud Service Providers to OSAP.
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, e-prescribing 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. The Commission is an authorized HITRUST CSF Assessor, making it the only organization with the ability to provide both EHNAC accreditation and HITRUST CSF certification.
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.
Press contact information:
Tom Testa, Anderson Interactive, 617-872-0184
tom@andersoni.com
Debra Hopkinson, EHNAC, 860-408-1620
dhopkinson@ehnac.org