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Most physicians not prepared for HIPAA 5010, survey finds
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 27, 2011
With the adoption deadline just six months away, most physician practices aren't preparing for the transition to new electronic claims submission standards known as HIPAA 5010, according to a survey by the Medical Group Management Assn. released June 15.
Most electronic medical record vendors are handling the necessary software updates, but physicians need to test whether they can submit claims in the new format. Only 9.2% of the practices surveyed were conducting internal testing of the new format, and 38.2% hadn't scheduled testing at all.
Of the 356 practices that MGMA surveyed, just 15.2% had conducted an impact analysis to examine what the practice needed to do to prepare. Most practices said they had either not started preparing (45.2%) or were less than 25% done preparing (26.4%).
The survey did not cover whether practices participated in an event that took place the day MGMA released its data. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had declared June 15 as National 5010 Testing Day. The American Medical Association and the MGMA had suggested that CMS conduct such an event.
Information about preparing for HIPAA 5010 is available online (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/06/27/bibf0627.htm.
