Ah, the perfect application of Open Source for US vendors and providers
alike. HCFA mandates do not add any value to a healthcare software
application (say a finance app), but ALL US vendors must embed this logic
in their systems, or no provider will purchase the product
offering. Trouble is, every vendor interprets the HCFA requirements
slightly differently. The result is that the data going to HCFA is then
hard to interpret/use.
Bob Mayes at HCFA had the vision to build a toolset to address these
issues. MedQuest is the name of the toolset, and HCFA makes it freely
available off the HCFA web site at http://www.hcfa.gov/medquest/medq1.htm.
Bob's recent efforts focus on metadata. One quickly realizes the benefits
of metadata in a complex data set, such as HCFA is responsible for. I
believe the metadata definitions are currently being incorporated into the
MedQuest offerings, but Bob would know better than I.
If you *really* want the HCFA forms, you can ask HCFA for a copy. I did
this a few year back, when I took on a position as EDI Coordinator. HCFA
sent me a package about 15 inches of paper in depth...at least a month's
worth of reading! Very ugly!!
Hope this helps. I'm sure Bob would like feedback on MedQuest.
-Mary
At 01:00 PM 1/19/00 -0500, Alvin B. Marcelo wrote:
>Question from an outsider:
>
>Which HCFA forms are providers required to submit in the US?
>
>Is there a way of connecting a HCFA electronic form to a database so that
>appropriate fields are extracted from the database, placed on the form,
>and then printed pdf-like _using open source tools_? I know this can be
>done with Adobe Acrobat but is there an open source counterpart?
>
>Thanks.
>
>alvin
>
>
>
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