Only 15 percent of all stakeholders report that they find any value in the use of unique Health Plan Identifier (HPID) within electronic transactions adopted under HIPAA, according to a survey from the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI).  

WEDI, which represents a swath of organizations including providers, insurers, government agencies, standards development organizations, consumers and non-profit organizations, is a designated advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It sought to provide more quantitative information to the HHS on the impact and use of HPIs in transactions.

“A recurring theme that we have heard is the continued confusion within the industry as to what HPID is intended to solve in the current healthcare environment. WEDI believes this message is important and should be addressed,” according to WEDI's letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, which contained the survey findings.

Conducted from August 20 to Sept. 5, the survey included responses from 262 individuals across multiple stakeholders, including health plans, self‐insured health plans, providers, third‐party administrators, clearinghouses and software vendors. Among its other findings:

• Only 24 percent of respondents are unconcerned about implementing HPID concurrent with other mandates.
• A greater degree of granularity will impact 51 percent of respondent implementations, while 39 percent are unsure of impact.
• For 55 percent of respondents, HPID use within transactions will be the same complexity or more complex than implementation of the National Provider Identifier.
• Only 30 percent of respondents, other than providers, indicated the cost to implement HPID would be less than $500,000, while 33 percent are unable to currently determine a cost estimate.
• Only 19 percent of providers indicated the cost to implement would be less than $50,000, and another 56 percent are unable to determine a cost estimate at this time.
• Only 11 percent of respondents reported privacy and security risks would be less than current risks under HIPAA.

“The findings of this latest survey really indicate that the industry has still not seen the value of placing HPID in the HIPAA transactions. This supports our recommendations to CMS from October 2013 that CMS require HPID enumeration but modify the rule to make HPIDs not used in transactions,” said WEDI President and CEO Devin Jopp, EdD, in a statement.