Make Sure You Know How to Meet Version 5010 Level II Compliance The Version 5010 compliance deadline is less than 90 days away. All entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) must be ready to implement the Version 5010 transaction standards by December 31, 2011. In order to meet this compliance deadline, you need to conduct both Level I Internal Testing, and Level II External Testing of transactions.
Level I Internal Testing Level I Internal Testing allows you to identify and address any potential issues that may arise in advance of testing with external business partners. If you have not yet done so, take action now to complete your internal testing as soon as possible. By now, you should have completed Level I Internal Testing, and begun Level II External Testing. Level II External Testing For Level II External Testing, you should identify the business partners you currently conduct transactions with, and create a schedule and timeline for external testing with each partner. If you trade with a large number of business partners, identify priority partners to conduct testing with first. To meet Level II compliance, business partners that should be included in external testing include: * Billing services * Clearinghouses * Pharmacies * Entities responsible for coverage and benefit determinations * Payers To ensure a smooth transition during Level II External Testing, you should first test the transactions you currently use on a daily basis, such as: * Claims * Eligibility determinations * Remittances * Referral authorizations After testing your daily transactions, you are ready to test all remaining transactions to ensure that you are fully compliant for Level II External Testing. Keep Up to Date on Version 5010 and ICD-10. Please visit the ICD-10 website<http://www.cms.gov/ICD10> for the latest news and resources to help you prepare, and to download and share the implementation widget<http://www.browserspring.com/widgets/cms2/iframe.html> today! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vaccination is the Best Protection Against the Flu The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouraging everyone 6 months of age and older to get vaccinated against the seasonal flu. The risks for complications, hospitalizations, and deaths from the flu are higher among individuals aged 65 years and older. Medicare pays for the seasonal flu vaccine and its administration for seniors and others with Medicare with no co-pay or deductible. And remember, vaccination is particularly important for healthcare workers, who may spread the flu to high-risk patients; don't forget to immunize yourself and your staff. Protect your patients. Protect your family. Protect yourself. Get the Flu Vaccination - Not the Flu. Remember - The flu vaccine plus its administration are covered Part B benefits. CMS has posted the 2011-2012 seasonal flu vaccine payment limits at http://www.CMS.gov/McrPartBDrugAvgSalesPrice/10_VaccinesPricing.asp. Note that the flu vaccine is NOT a Part D-covered drug. For more information on coverage and billing of the flu vaccine and its administration, as well as related educational provider resources, visit http://www.CMS.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp and http://www.cms.gov/immunizations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: If you have problems accessing any hyperlink in this message, please copy and paste the URL into your Internet browser. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to a Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) provider listserv, go to (http://www.cms.gov/prospmedicarefeesvcpmtgen/downloads/Provider_Listservs.pdf). If you would like to unsubscribe from a specific provider listserv, please go to (https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?INDEX) to unsubscribe or to leave the appropriate listserv. Please DO NOT respond to this email. This email is a service of CMS and routed through an electronic mail server to communicate Medicare policy and operational changes and/or updates. Responses to this email are not routed to CMS personnel. Inquiries may be sent by going to (http://www.cms.gov/ContactCMS). Thank you.
