phiMail® Direct Messaging and phiCert™ Identity Services expand secure, interoperable exchange of Healthcare data as an inaugural Health Information Service Provider (HISP) and the first commercial Certification Authority (CA) in the Accredited DirectTrust Network

SAN DIEGO, Calif., Sept. 5, 2014 -- EMR Direct, a leading developer of Direct messaging software and provider of Direct messaging and identity services for the secure exchange of Protected Health Information (PHI) over the Internet, announced that it was inducted yesterday as an inaugural member of the DirectTrust Accredited Trust Community, DirectTrust’s new flagship exchange network for Direct messaging and the successor to DirectTrust's Transitional Trust network. Accredited Network participants are assured that the other members of the network have not only received accreditation through the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) Direct Trusted Agent Accreditation Program (DTAAP), but have also demonstrated a high level of interoperability with other accredited Health Information Service Providers (HISPs). Government regulations require the Direct messaging transport standard to be used in electronic document exchange for transitions of care as part of Stage 2 of Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) software. With the launch of the Accredited Trust Bundle yesterday, EMR Direct and Cerner become its first two inductees.

Trust bundles enable Direct messaging to scale by setting common inclusion requirements, so that each participating practice organization or healthcare institution making use of the bundle does not need to enter into pairwise one-off policy and data sharing agreements with every other prospective counter party, as is often still required with other exchange technologies in healthcare IT today. Direct messaging makes this possible due to a common transport specification which requires only that sender and recipient know and trust each other’s Direct address, without additional interface configuration.

The role of the DirectTrust Accredited Trust Bundle is to make that "trust" aspect -- ordinarily somewhat cumbersome to arrange for legal, technical, and cost reasons -- both automated and highly secure. DirectTrust, an independent non-profit trade association with over 100 member organizations, establishes policies to promote security and trust in Direct messaging, and to facilitate interoperability through both its trust bundles and its ongoing validation of Direct service provider systems. By requiring demonstration of interoperability before admission to the network, DirectTrust helps ensure the reliability of the pipe. As a result, the DirectTrust Network has seen extremely short doubling times in terms of its growth, which is expected to continue as additional providers adopt the technology. "At EMR Direct, our goal is to consistently exceed the high bar of security and interoperability required by DirectTrust," says Julie Maas, Founder and CEO of EMR Direct, who spearheads the interoperability program within DirectTrust. "Customers expecting a high interoperability success rate ask not just for a Direct address, but for a HISP in the DirectTrust Network."

EMR Direct phiMail has been easily and securely integrated into over 50 EHRs and healthcare applications seeking to meet the Direct messaging requirements for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use and the convenience of digital interoperability. Many more certifications are scheduled in coming months, and other installations such as home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities also use the standalone HTML5 phiMail Web product to exchange with Direct-enabled hospitals and providers. EMR Direct’s strengths include a rapid integration Direct messaging API and connector libraries for multiple application frameworks, ready-to-integrate sample code, ongoing product enhancements based on customer feedback, helpful MU2 certification and other Direct messaging product documentation, high-touch customer support, and industry-leading capabilities such as built-in handling of separate signing and encryption keys, optional two factor authentication, XDR support/XD HISP service, and trust policies tailored to customers’ business needs—down to the address and/or user level.

The EHNAC "Accredited" symbol has become synonymous with a high bar of compliance in healthcare-related data transfer procedures, and DirectTrust/EHNAC DTAAP accreditation, endorsed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), is the industry-accepted stamp of approval for objective review of Direct messaging-related services. EMR Direct successfully completed EHNAC DTAAP accreditation in February, 2014, at which time its practices were audited against over two hundred technical, physical, and operational criteria and found to be fully in compliance with HIPAA/HITECH security and privacy regulations, the Direct Project standards, DirectTrust policies, and other measures prescribed by DirectTrust and EHNAC.

About EMR Direct
EMR Direct is headquartered in San Diego, California, and provides Direct messaging services, Direct addresses, and, through its phiCert Certification Authority, the supporting public key infrastructure (PKI) required for Direct exchange for its customers and for other HISPs. With the goal of simplifying interoperability and enabling custom workflows, phiMail is easy to integrate into a healthcare application or use as a standalone webmail product, and does not require expensive, one-off, peer-to-peer interfaces. EMR Direct is committed to protecting patient privacy, improving the quality and coordination of care, increasing productivity, and reducing costs. As part of this commitment, the EMR Direct management team actively participates in numerous government-sponsored and industry workgroups to help refine, expand, and govern the use of Direct messaging. More information may be found at http://www.emrdirect.com. Healthcare providers and IT professionals may request complimentary evaluation software by registering for a developer or production account.

About DirectTrust and EHNAC
DirectTrust is an independent non-profit trade association created by and for participants in the Direct community, to establish and maintain a national Security and Trust framework in support of Direct exchange. EHNAC is an independent, federally recognized, standards development organization and accrediting body designed to improve transactional quality, operational efficiency, and data security in healthcare.

Trademark Notice: phiMail is a registered trademark, and phiCert a trademark, of EMR Direct.

Media Contact:
Julie Maas
EMR Direct
pr@emrdirect.com
858-367-0770