The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission is developing a new accreditation program for health information exchanges.

EHNAC, a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body, will develop evaluation criteria for regional health information organizations, community health data/network partnerships and other groups that promote data sharing across multiple independent stakeholders.

The HIE program will assess the privacy policies, security measures, technical performance, business practices and organizational resources of participating entities.

EHNAC expects to convene a workgroup focused on criteria development later this year.

"It is absolutely critical that HIEs have an accreditation program at the national level," said Jan Root, executive director of the Utah Health Information Network, a state-wide value-added network whose board will decide in September whether to expand into clinical information exchange. "It's essential that HIE accreditation establish performance standards while allowing for local variation in the business functions the HIE fills. EHNAC understands that you can assess security, privacy, customer service and network performance without dictating how to do business."

As a part of the standards development process, EHNAC will coordinate with other certification and accreditation organizations, including the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT).

"Leaders from both the federal and state levels have been calling for authoritative standards that would establish accountability, ensure efficiency and promote involvement with RHIOs and other types of networks," said Lee Barrett, executive director of EHNAC. "This HIE accreditation program will fill that much-needed role and add a measure of confidence for providers, payers and other potential HIE participants."

The EHNAC is encouraging all interested parties to participate.

Do you think that HIEs need an accreditation program and why do you think this will be useful? E-mail Associate Editor Molly Merrill at molly.merrill@medtechpublishing.com.