HIPAA Blog

[ Friday, November 18, 2011 ]

 

The Other HIPAA: CMS is backing off the requirement that everyone switch to the newest transaction standards by January 1; actually, the requirement is still there, but CMS has said they won't enforce it until April 1, 2012. The HIPAA 5010 standards for electronic transactions, which replace the 4010 standards, were supposed to be tested during 2011, with all electronic transactions in the healthcare industry being conducted under the new standards by 1/1/12.
California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) stated recently that they just won't be ready to make the switch, and just won't do it (despite it being legally required). What will CMS do if Medi-Cal still isn't ready by April Fool's Day? I bet we'll see another extension. It seems that if you're big enough and say you won't abide by the law, the Feds will just change the law for you. Maybe it's not an issue of being big enough, but blue enough; I wonder how CMS would have responded if it was Texas' Medicaid program that refused to make the switch. . . .

UPDATE: here's another link to the story. The Modern Healthcare link may be subscription only.

Jeff [10:41 AM]

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