FARMINGTON, Conn., Jan. 20, 2015 (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 GE Healthcare and NextGen Healthcare are the first two organizations to achieve accreditation under its Practice Management System Accreditation Program (PMSAP).
Jointly developed with the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) , PMSAP has been designed to serve as a third-party review and provide an additional level of assurance to the provider community during the evaluation process of PMS system vendors.
The accreditation program offers a comprehensive evaluation of practice management system (PMS) vendors in the areas of privacy, security, mandated standards and operating rules, and key operational functions. Additionally, the PMSAP assesses health information and oversight for meeting privacy and security, HIPAA and ACA requirements, as well as focuses on technical performance, business processes and resource management. Additionally, the program provides a review of the PMS vendor readiness to support and implement ICD-10 in 2015 and therefore a level of assurance to the provider community.
As beta participants throughout the consultative and consensus-driven process of program development, GE Healthcare and NextGen Healthcare were the first to undergo evaluation on their compliance with the criteria and receive full accreditation status for the two-year timeframe.
"As healthcare and its payment system becomes more complex, it is essential that providers rely on systems and solutions they can trust," said Jon Zimmerman, vice president and general manager, Clinical Business Solutions at GE Healthcare. "In collaboration with the leadership of EHNAC and WEDI, we have taken another big step forward toward providing standards based solutions that providers can use with confidence to run their businesses. This is another demonstration of our commitment to our customers to provide leading solutions in uncertain times."
"Building trust in the healthcare community is essential to moving healthcare forward and through our collaborative efforts with EHNAC, we are at the forefront of providing the necessary security and trust assurances to enable more secure, efficient and effective healthcare delivery," said Michael Lovett , executive vice president and general manager for NextGen Healthcare. "Being the first to achieve EHNAC accreditation underscores our commitment to ensuring that client and patient privacy is a top priority."
"As beta organizations for the PMS accreditation program, GE Healthcare and NextGen Healthcare's collaboration and feedback have been vital components in the development of an industry-changing initiative," said Lee Barrett, executive director of EHNAC. "The need to maintain high standards of privacy, security and confidentiality as a practice management system vendor is critical, to say the least. These organizations understand the value behind provider assurance in the quality and integrity of the companies with whom they entrust their data. We congratulate them both on their accreditation achievements."
EHNAC accreditation recognizes excellence in health data processing and transactions, and confirms compliance with industry-established standards and HIPAA regulations. Visit www.ehnac.org for more details on PMSAP and the many other EHNAC accreditation programs.
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, 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 .
Press contact information: Dave Anderson, Anderson Interactive, 678-401-2991 Debra Hopkinson, EHNAC, 860-408-1620
