New Accreditation Program for Supporting Direct Messaging Protocols

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission, which certifies entities that process transactions or exchange health information for meeting best practices, now has an accreditation program for entities that provide or support secure messaging using the Direct Project protocols.

EHNAC created the Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program in partnership with DirectTrust, a self-regulatory entity created by participants in the Direct Project community. Six entities now are going through the new accreditation program. The federal government developed the Direct Project protocols as a standard way to send authenticated and encrypted messages over the Internet.

Stages 2 and 3 of the electronic health records meaningful use program will require adoption of Direct messaging protocols. More information on the new accreditation program is available at ehnac.org.