CMS awards contract for HIPAA transaction testing
Revenue cycle vendor and claims clearinghouse Emdeon will test new iterations of transactions processing standards as they are developed under a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) valued at approximately $2 million.
The goal is to identify problems with new HIPAA transactions and reform law-mandated ‘operating rules’ that tighten the transactions before implementation. If an issue does arise during implementation, it also can be identified with a correction issued to the industry.
Emdeon will test transactions and operating rules before a standards development organization proposes adoption to the government. The vendor will analyze the functionality, usability, interoperability and business usage of draft versions of standards for the claims, claim status, payment/remittance, eligibility and referral authorization transactions, as well as new standards such as operating rules that may be considered for adoption.