HIETexas today announced that Healthcare Access San Antonio(HASA), the Health Information Exchange organization for Bexar and 21 surrounding counties in South Central Texas, has achieved full accreditation with the Texas Health Information Exchange Accreditation Program (TX-HIEAP) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) and the Texas Health Services Authority (THSA), which operates HIETexas.
HASA is the first HIE to achieve Texas accreditation and only the fourth in the nation to receive recognition from EHNAC. Texas HIE Accreditation ensures HIEs within Texas are interoperable with state and federal programs, and provide the private, secure and proper exchange of health information in accordance with established laws and public policy. HIE is the electronic movement of health-related information between healthcare providers and systems. The overall goal of health information exchange is to allow health care providers to better manage patient care through secure use and sharing of health information, and to ultimately give patients access to their own health information, just like we have access to our banking and Gijs van Oort, executive director for HASA said, “HASA opted to be among the first in the nation to apply for accreditation because total adoption of any health information exchange can happen only when patients are confident that their health data is uncompromisingly secure.”
Lee Barrett, executive director of EHNAC said, “By achieving accreditation, HASA has proven its commitment to the highest standards in privacy, security, confidentiality and sustainability in health information exchange, and we commend them on such a considerable accomplishment.” Tony Gilman, CEO of the Texas Health Services Authority stated, “Increasing confidence and trust in organizations involved in exchanging and maintaining electronic health information will not only foster greater participation in HIEs, but also support sustainability of HIE efforts in Texas and across the United States.”
