FARMINGTON, Conn. - October 6, 2015 - The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body, and the Healthcare Administrative Technology Association (HATA) announce today a partnership to further efforts of ensuring a common level of functionality and data security for practice management systems.
With this partnership, HATA members applying for the Practice Management System Accreditation Program (PMSAP) for the first time will receive a discount for the accreditation process. Applications will be discounted $400 for entities with less than $75 million in healthcare-related revenues annually, and $600 for entities with more than $75 million in healthcare-related revenues annually.
Additionally, HATA will provide a 25 percent discount for new member dues when an organization shows it has applied for the PMSAP and a 10 percent discount for renewal of members who maintain their PMSAP accreditation.
Jointly developed with the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), PMSAP measures a practice management system vendor's ability to provide the essential tools to optimize workflow and streamline efficiency, enhance revenue cycle management and reporting including ICD10 readiness, and seamlessly integrate with electronic health record systems. The accreditation has established itself as a universal benchmark across the industry to build a level of trust for medical practices and other healthcare providers who face the overwhelming task of practice management system vendor selection.
"We're proud to partner closely with HATA because of the important leadership they are providing to practice management system vendors and the market as a whole," said EHNAC Executive Director Lee Barrett. "This is a very transitional healthcare market, and we strongly urge medical practices to ensure their vendors are taking the appropriate steps to stay on top of industry trends and securing the privacy of their important patient data by looking to their involvement in leading association groups like HATA as well as their willingness to demonstrate the level of their privacy and security."
HATA is a unifying voice for practice management system organizations collaborating to effectively solve industry issues and achieve the promise of healthcare administrative technology. Membership provides education and resources that support individual organizations and through this shared strength, seeks to advance the industry as a whole. Earlier in the year, HATA also issued a public endorsement of the PMSAP.
"HATA members continue to demonstrate how they are on the forefront of industry issues. We are excited to be working in collaboration with EHNAC to help bring this important accreditation to a growing population of PMS vendors," said HATA Executive Director, Tim McMullen, JD, CAE. "Several HATA members already understand how accreditation can be a competitive differentiator and have secured accreditation, and we encourage all our members to do so as well."
Executives from both EHNAC (booth #2420) and HATA (booth #2518) will be exhibiting at the upcoming Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) 2015 Annual Conference in Nashville, Tenn. on October 11-14, and on-hand to discuss the importance of this partnership.
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, data registries, 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.