HIPAA 90 day 5010 extension
While the compliance deadline for physicians to use the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) version 5010 electronic transactions remains Jan. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last week that it will not enforce compliance until March 31.
CMS granted this 90-day grace period because progress toward industry-wide compliance with the new version of electronic transactions—which includes health care claims—has been slow. However, physicians should still prepare their practices to be compliant by Jan. 1. CMS plans to investigate complaints of non-compliance with version 5010 standards beginning in January, and physicians who face a complaint must provide evidence of their efforts to become fully compliant.
Physicians who are not already using the version 5010 electronic transactions should work with their software vendors, billing services, clearinghouses and payers to ensure that they will be compliant by Jan. 1 or as soon as possible during the grace period. Claims that do not comply with the version 5010 standards by Jan. 1 will cause processing delays and other difficulties.
Visit the AMA's version 5010 Web page to access resources to help you prepare.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/amawire/2011-november-23/2011-november-23-general_news3_print.html