Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 12:22
PM
Subject: RE: ABC alternative to HCPCS
codes
List,
I cannot imagine CMS e ndorsing any single vendor of this
type.
I trust that CMS membership of the list will take note of the
claim an d take appropriate remedial action.
regards,
Ivan J. Barrick, Ph.D., CHE, CPHIMS
Director, Healthcare Operations Improvement Practice
Parente Randolph Health Care Consulting Group
46 Public Square, Suite 400
Wilkes Barre, Pa
18701- 2681
Phone: 570.820.0129 Fax:
570.824.9865
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] . com
Website: www. hipaahelpline. com
-----Original Message-----
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 10:00 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:
ABC alternative to HCPCS codes
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 <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)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
or
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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