HIPAA 5010 transition big challenge for hospitals

As if implementing an EMR and proving meaningful use wasn't enough--not to mention moving to ICD-10 coding--health IT managers also need to consider their transition to HIPAA 5010. That's a daunting project all on its own, to say the least.

Health IT departments must be ready to submit claims electronically using the upgraded HIPAA standards by January 2012. That's a year ahead of the October 1, 2013 deadline for the ICD-10 cutover, but the two terminal dates overlap enough so that both upgrades will have to be underway at the same time. In short, the situation is something of a nightmare.

The new standards will include more than 500 change requests, resolve contradictions and ambiguities in the existing rules, and make the whole system more consistent, CMS officials said. The HIPAA 5010 upgrade will include new data elements, which will require providers to modify their existing EDI transactions software.

To learn more about the HIPAA 5010 standards:
- read this Health Leaders Media piece [1]

Related Articles:
Switch to ICD-10 should be very costly [2]
HHS proposes 2011 deadline for ICD-10 code adoption [3]
AHA, Premier back ICD-10 adoption plan [4]