The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission is launching a new consulting and advisory arm to help healthcare organizations better manage their data and maintain regulatory compliance.

WHY IT MATTERS
EHNAC, a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body for healthcare groups that exchange electronic health data, seeks to offer guidance for those organizations as they try to navigate regulatory compliance for data security.

It will help with enterprise-wide risk assessments, compliance gaps and third-party assurance requirements among other services, including cybersecurity, HIPAA and HITECH compliance, NIST guidance, standards, and more.

EHNAC's areas of expertise include certification, readiness assessments, HITRUST and SOC audits, and other requirements for privacy and security of health data. As it helps its healthcare clients identify compliance gaps, the group says it can help with remediation and instruction on best practices for risk mitigation.

THE LARGER TREND
All month long at Healthcare IT News, we'll be focusing on the theme of "Securing the Healthcare Environment." 

Whether it's ransomware, connected devices, security of cloud infrastructure, data loss protection, phishing, human factors or any other number of complex challenges, IT professionals have come to understand that, as the methods and vectors of cyberattacks evolve, so must their approaches to mitigation. 

Too many, however, still think about security in terms of regulatory compliance rather than true information security. HIPAA and HITRUST compliance are merely basic table stakes. As new threats emerge, healthcare organizations need to take an agile and proactive approach to managing the many risks to mission-critical data – the costs are too big to ignore.

ON THE RECORD
"The increasing number of business, policy drivers and regulatory requirements in our country create pressure for healthcare entities to manage and minimize risk, address compliance requirements and improve health outcomes," Lee Barrett, executive director and CEO of EHNAC, said in a statement.

"That’s why we’ve launched our Consulting and Advisory Services, so we can be on the front lines in assisting healthcare stakeholders address those challenges head on," he said, "providing the critical guidance and support needed to be at their very best and retain their competitive edge.”