EHNAC to Accredit MSOs

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission has created an accreditation program for health care management service organizations.

These organizations provide centralized administrative and hosted information technology services to providers.

Industry sponsored EHNAC, based in Farmington, Conn., accredits a range of health care transactions processors including claims clearinghouses, health information exchanges, value-added networks and financial networks, among others. To be accredited, an organization must meet certain performance benchmarks in such areas as privacy and security, service levels, technical performance, business practices and organizational resources.

EHNAC's new program responds to a need by some states for a management service organization accreditation program. For instance, Maryland state law enacted in 2009 requires the Maryland Health Care Commission by October 2012 to designate one or more accredited MSOs to host electronic health records software linked to a state HIE for providers across the state.

More information on the accreditation program is available at ehnac.org.

--Joseph Goedert