Many seem to be concerned about the differences of interpretation and implementation for testing vendors. Some seem to be convinced that entities are better off NOT obtaining 3rd party certification than obtaining it, because detailed element-by-element rules haven't been established, creating a single meaning for the term 'compliant'.
I went through the 837P just to see how many 'interpretations' there are. For most elements -- there is ONE. Even the should vs. must issue doesn't add that much ambiguity. There are a few exceptions, which have been discussed tirelessly, and we'll all maintain flexibility on those items in testing, so that trading partners can work it out. The bar has already been set -- it is the X12N Implementation Guides. Fact is, TRANSACTIONS can be systematically evaluated to see if they comply with the implementation guides, barring the ambiguities I already mentioned. Granted, some vendors will do this better than others, and there are some ambiguities. However, the value of transaction certification from a credible 3rd party, as the paper indicates, still has significant value. This value is in 3 key areas (and probably more): 1) Assistance in identifying problems or issues within one's implementation, in order to significantly reduce the number of issues or problems found when exchanging with trading partners. 2) Removing the bottleneck of testing, where everyone has to wait until everyone else is ready to begin external testing. 3) The use of a trusted 3rd party solution by a trading partner as a way of scrutinizing their trading partners prior to exchanging transactions with them. This limits the amount of 'debugging' of each other's systems that trading partners have to do. I do think that we're caught in a bit of a semantic problem here as well. The WEDI SNIP white paper simply uses the term 'certification' to indicate that an independent 3rd party is willing to make a public statement about an entity's transactions. The credibility and openness of that 3rd party's methods is crucial to this. The only difference between this concept and that of testing is that it is done by a 3rd party. I don't believe the paper is intending to state that this certification should be used to indicate that an entire organization, or even system, is entirely compliant, nor that one can simply get 'certified' and assume that everything is going to work perfectly. Perhaps this needs to be made clearer in the paper. Finally, Ramakrishna Pidaparti mentioned that there are some things missing from the WEDI SNIP Transaction Compliance and Certification white paper: "the traditional Software Testing aspects of unit, system, integration, beta, acceptance, stress, load, performance and automated testing." These are very important to the testing process, but actually come chronologically BEFORE this white paper, which deals with the external testing/certification that occurs once an entity has reason to believe they are compliant. I believe it has been suggested that a separate white paper addressing Internal Testing (which occurs before external testing) be written. I think this would serve the industry well, as these are critical issues. However, the time is NOW to get it done. April 16, 2003 is not far away. Any volunteers? Regards, Larry Watkins Vice President & COO Claredi Corporation Office: (801) 444-0339 x204 Fax: (770) 419-5295 Mobile: (770) 331-1898 e-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Julie Thompson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 1:02 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Certifications Of course, there are exhaustive testing plans in progress. The covered entitites have millions of dollars in revenue at risk. While some vendors are available to assist them, many of their IT departments are talented and very capable of handling these requirements. Where the "bar" is set for acceptance is one of the challenges and will vary from one entity to another according to there business needs. That level of acceptance must be left to each overed entity and is not the issue here. Comparison of one entitiies concept of HIPAA compliance .vs. another is the key issue here. Thus, the need for an industry wide acceptance of what defines HIPAA compliant. Julie A. Thompson VP EDI Solutions http://www.concio.com From: "Miriam Paramore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: "Miriam Paramore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Certifications Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 22:41:18 -0400 My 2 cents on this topic. The undeniable reality is that every single trading partner in healthcare today accepts the "good enough" testing method. There are no exhaustive test plans on either side. Until now, via third parties, there has been no attempt at certification against a standard. We are making progress and it should be encouraged. Perfection is a goal. To be removed from this listserv, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] <P>The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. Posting of advertisements or other commercial use of this listserv is specifically prohibited. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx To be removed from this listserv, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] <P>The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. Posting of advertisements or other commercial use of this listserv is specifically prohibited. To be removed from this listserv, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] <P>The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. Posting of advertisements or other commercial use of this listserv is specifically prohibited.
