Direct Trusted Agent accreditation ensures adherence to data processing standards and compliance with security infrastructure, integrity and trusted identity requirements
NASHVILLE, TN – May 21, 2013 – ICA, a leading provider of interoperability technology that enables care coordination and health information exchange (HIE), announced today it has achieved full accreditation with the Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program (DTAAP) for Registration Authority (RA), Certificate Authority (CA) and Health Information Service Provider (HISP) from DirectTrust.org and the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC). Direct Trusted Agent accreditation recognizes excellence in health data processing and transactions, and ensures compliance with industry-established standards, HIPAA regulations and the Direct Project.
Through the consultative review process, EHNAC evaluated ICA in areas of privacy, security and confidentiality; technical performance; business practices and organizational resources as related to Directed exchange participants. In addition, EHNAC reviewed the organization’s process of managing and transferring protected health information and determined that it meets or exceeds all EHNAC criteria and industry standards. Through completion of the rigorous accreditation process, the organization demonstrates to its constituents, adherence to strict standards and participation in the comprehensive, objective evaluation of its business.
“Endorsed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), the Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program ensures that organizations like ICA establish and uphold a superior level of trust for their stakeholders,” says Lee Barrett, executive director of EHNAC. “The need in the marketplace for guidance and accountability in health information exchange is undeniable, and we applaud ICA’s commitment to the highest standards in privacy, security and confidentiality.”
ICA provides healthcare organizations with tools for enhancing data exchange across the care continuum in order to improve quality of patient care and reduce overall costs. The company’s comprehensive, standards-based interoperability and informatics platform aggregates and moves patient data across care settings, enabling users to turn the data into actionable information.
“With the federal government selecting DTAAP as the standard for secure data exchange, we chose to be one of the first companies in the country to pursue this accreditation in order to maintain a market-leading position in interoperability,” said Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO of ICA. “By achieving DTAAP certification, we’re able to provide our clients with assurance that we are exchanging data at the highest level of security and safety, as defined by industry standards.”
About ICA Originating from clinical informatics solutions developed within Vanderbilt Medical Center, ICA’s state-of-the-art CareAlign® interoperability and informatics platform addresses and solves data and communication challenges for many healthcare entities, including hospitals, IPAs, IDNs, HIEs, payers and others. CareAlign delivers a flexible architecture to connect, collect, consume and intelligently distribute data through Direct, IHE, HL7, and custom methods for use in EHRs, third party applications, and ICA’s applications. CareAlign unites a wide range of information and supports analytic needs associated with population health management, transitions of care communication, re-admissions reduction, meaningful use requirements and PCMH/ACO operations. Visit www.icainformatics.com, and follow us on Twitter, ICA HITme Blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
About DirectTrust.org DirectTrust.org is a non-profit, competitively neutral, self-regulatory entity created by and for participants in the Direct community, including HISPs, CAs and RAs, doctors, patients, and vendors, and supports both provider-to-provider as well as patient-to-provider Direct exchange. The goal of DirectTrust.org is to develop, promote and, as necessary, help enforce the rules and best practices necessary to maintain security and trust within the Direct community, consistent with the HITECH Act and the governance rules for the NwHIN established by ONC.
DirectTrust.org is committed to fostering widespread public confidence in the Direct exchange of health information. To learn more, visit www.directtrust.org.
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 electronic health networks, payers, financial services firms, health information exchanges, medical billers, outsourced services, e-prescribing solution providers and direct trusted agents.
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 or contact info@ehnac.org. Connect with EHNAC on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.