>>> "McDaniel, Laurie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/12/03 08:52AM >>>
We received the email below about the "ABC" alternative to HCPCS codes that will supposedly allow for clearer coding for "alternative medicine, nursing and other integrated healthcare interventions". The email claims that we have to "register" by March 16 to be allowed to use these codes.
Can anyone shed any light on this? This is the first we have heard of this alternate code set that is "approved" by HIPAA (Secretary Thompson). If this is legitimate, are there any potentially negative reasons for not registering?
Here's the email Cheri Dunkleberger at Alternative Link, the company that you register with:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Urgent HHS Deadline! Secure Competitive Advantages and Support
Public Health by Registering to Use ABC Codes in HIPAA Transactions
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:16:48 -0700
From: Cheri Dunkleberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Press Release <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For Immediate Release For information, contact
Cheri Dunkleberger
at 505.875.0001 (MST), or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Only Seven Days Left!
Businesses in Healthcare Support Public Health and Secure Competitive
Advantages by Registering to Use ABC Codes in HIPAA Transactions
ALBUQUERQUE, NM. March 10, 2003. Thousands of health industry
businesses
and practitioners have taken a step toward improved public health,
business
efficiencies and socioeconomic development by registering to use ABC
codes
for integrative healthcare. Others have less than seven days to secure
rights to use these codes in HIPAA transactions and meet a U.S.
Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) registration deadline of March 16,
2003.
ABC codes fill gaps and balance the medical orientation in older code
sets
that became national standards under the Health Insurance Portability
and
Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Many coding experts believe all
healthcare codes should be issued objectively and should function like
universal product codes (UPCs or bar codes) in the grocery industry, to
support more scientific and efficient research, management and commerce.
They suggest that limitations in the nation's CPT Category I and HCPCS
Level
II code sets may be costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars
in
lost health industry efficiencies each year.
ABC codes were designed for HIPAA compliance and objectively describe
alternative medicine, nursing and other integrative healthcare
interventions. The codes meet congressional mandates under HIPAA;
support
comparisons of the economic and health outcomes of conventional,
complementary and alternative care; and ensure health policy decisions
can
be based on a complete and accurate picture of the care delivered in the
U.S.
To establish ABC codes as a national standard under HIPAA, the code
set's
developers spent more than half a decade following the directives of the
federal government and its advisory committees. Noting delays in the
government's ABC code set evaluation and HIPAA implementation process
and
the reported gaps in the older HIPAA code sets, HHS Secretary Tommy
Thompson
authorized commercial use and evaluation of ABC codes in HIPAA
transactions.
This action was permitted under a section of HIPAA, 45 CFR 162.940, that
anticipated the medical code sets might need to be refined or replaced
over
time.
Secretary Thompson called for formal registration of potential code set
users by March 16, 2003, and specified that those that did not register
by
March 16, 2003, would be locked out of using ABC codes in HIPAA
transactions
for two years. He anticipated evidence collected by the code set
developers
over that period would support a timely, transparent and objective
decision
on the value of ABC codes as a HIPAA standard.
So far, registrations are in the thousands and include a broad range of
health industry stakeholders including:
* software application developers and other information technology
companies;
* administrative and claims-related businesses;
* Medicare/Medicaid and private health plans;
* provider organizations such as hospital systems and subacute care
facilities;
* conventional, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
practitioners;
* government agencies and institutes;
* fully and self-insured employers; and
* academic institutions with CAM programs.
Registration for using ABC codes is free at www.alternativelink.com
<http://www.alternativelink.com> and takes less than ten minutes. It
includes an opinion poll that fulfills registrant obligations under the
special regulation that made ABC codes commercially available under
HIPAA.
Once enrolled, registrants can opt in or out of code set use and
evaluation,
as they see fit.
ABC codes are maintained by The Foundation for Integrative Healthcare, a
non-profit organization, and Alternative Link, a privately held New
Mexico
company.
The Foundation for Integrative Healthcare (www.fihc.org) manages
information
on the characteristics and outcomes of care to help health industry
organizations and practitioners make rational decisions that improve
public
health, industry efficiencies and socioeconomic development.
Alternative Link (www.alternativelink.com) delivers information products
and
consulting services that help health industry organizations and
practitioners improve public health, business efficiencies and
socioeconomic
development.
Individuals and organizations can secure rights to use ABC codes in
HIPAA
transactions by registering at www.alternativelink.com by March 16,
2003.
<<PR-7DaysLeft-03.03.08-09.doc>>
Laurie McDaniel
Administrative Information Services
Health Services (UNC Physicians)
(919) 962-5656
(919) 962-0584 (fax)
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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/. These listservs should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion of specific vendor products and services. They also are not intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or unprofessional communication at any time.
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