Health Information Management

Medicare to announce contingency plan decision this week

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, September 19, 2003

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Medicare will announce by September 25 whether it will continue to accept and send transactions in legacy formats, in addition to HIPAA compliant transactions, while trading partners work through implementation issues related to HIPAA's transactions and code sets rule, according to frequently asked question recently posted on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Web site.

In reviewing whether to deploy its contingency plan, Medicare will assess the number of submitters who are testing and in production with its contractors, according to a September 11 statement from Leslie V. Norwalk, acting deputy administrator for CMS. If Medicare deploys this contingency, it will be for all Medicare fee-for-service contractors.

All covered entities should work with their trading partners on outreach, testing, and contingency planning, said Norwalk. "This deadline is the law, and we all have to deal with it. It's not something that can be ignored or brushed aside."

Go to http://cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/default.asp to find CMS' frequently asked questions and http://cms.hhs.gov/media/press/release.asp?Counter=849 to read the September 11 statement.



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