The inability of a payor to use the 277 to send an un-solicited LIST of 
pended claims does seem like a technicality that could be fixed... if there 
was a really need to do that.  The more likely scenario, however, is that a 
provider wants to ask "what the heck's going on with" a list of UNPAID 
claims.  If the 276 doesn't allow him to ask for status on a "list" then he 
could alternatively send a whole bunch of separate 276s.

Medicaid does seem to be the only payor who periodically sends me 
unsolicited lists of "pended" claims... and as a provider I find this 
generally unhelpful, and in some cases highly annoying.  The process of 
filing a Medicaid claim is frequently automated and can be done 
electronically.  "Resubmission Turnaround Documents" and "Claim Inquiry 
Forms", however, are generally not automated and would have to be filled 
out manually (paper) and mailed.  Consequently, many providers who get an 
"RTD" in the mail or see a denial (due to an accidental submission error) 
on an EOB, find it more expedient to simply resubmit the claim with the 
corrected information.  Long after the second (resubmitted) claim is 
settled, the provider continues to get these unsolicited notifications that 
the original claim is still going through this slow death process involving 
various stages of "suspension".  The provider soon learns to ignore 
all/most unsolicited status status advice like this.

I would say that if the provider isn't yelling at a payor about a pended 
claim, it means that he DOESN'T WANT any status information about it. (or 
it means that he's asleep, in which case he doesn't deserve any status 
information and would probably be confused by it if the payor sent it out 
of the blue!)

Regards,
Chris

At 04:42 PM 2/22/02 -0500, Young, Brian wrote:
>Maria,
>
>If I understand what you are indicating... If a provider
>sends a 276 claim status request and that claim is pended,
>the 277 does not cover that pended status response
>possibility so no response can be sent.  Nor can a payer
>send a 277 (unsolicited) back with a 835 containing any
>pended claims.
>
>And the reason is because "Pended" claim status is not a
>HIPAA transaction.  Am I understanding you correctly?
>
>If so this would seem like splitting hairs.  For certainly
>the 277 does cover claim status reporting.
>
>
>   BCY
>
>Brian C. Young
>Senior Software Engineer
>Accu-Med Services
>An OmniCare Company
>300 TechneCenter Dr.
>Milford, OH 45150
>
>
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Christopher J. Feahr, OD
http://visiondatastandard.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cell/Pager: 707-529-2268        



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