HIPAA News

EHNAC Releases New Criteria for Five Accreditation Programs

(Jan 13, 2008)-- The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body, announced today the adoption of five new versions of program criteria. After a 60-day public comment period for the draft criteria, EHNAC has finalized and adopted the enhanced criteria versions for the organization’s Healthcare Network Accreditation Program (HNAP-EHN) and e-Prescribing Accreditation Program (ePAP), as well as the first versions of Financial Services Accreditation Program (FSAP-EHN), Financial Services for Lockbox Program (FSAP-Lockbox) and Healthcare Network Accreditation Plus Select SAS 701 Criteria Program (HNAP-70).

Organizations that apply for accreditation or re-accreditation after Jan. 1, 2009 will now adhere to the enhanced criteria standards. Criteria for all EHNAC programs are posted online at www.ehnac.org/ap_criteria.html.

“As a number of organizations and their data exchanges evolve and increase in complexity, our standards for evaluating the achievement of those organizations must also continue to evolve,” says Mark Gingrich, commissioner and criteria committee chair of EHNAC. “We pride ourselves on our thorough evaluation criteria, and the new criteria versions we’ve adopted this year will allow us to stay ahead of ever-changing industry standards while incorporating the feedback received from leaders in the marketplace.”

* HNAP-EHN accreditation recognizes excellence in health data processing and transactions and indicates compliance with industry-established standards and HIPAA regulations.
* ePAP accreditation ensures e-prescribing quality business performance through compliance with all necessary and relevant industry-established guidelines, standards and criteria.
* FSAP-EHN demonstrates that a financial services organization meets a high standard of quality in handling protected health information as well as ensuring that it follows industry-established criteria for processing payments and other financial transactions.
* FSAP-Lockbox differs from the other EHNAC accreditation programs in that certain performance metrics are modified or not included since a lockbox operation does not receive standards-based transactions. Also, specific document handling and delivery criteria are unique to this program.
* HNAP-70 ensures that an organization’s general IT controls are more comprehensive to assist in the preparation of SAS 70(©)1 or Sarbanes-Oxley audits.

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