 |
HIPAA: Electronic Standards Delayed |
Is your medical practice working hard to meet the upcoming compliance deadlines for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)? Hopefully the answer is a resounding "yes."
If the electronic transactions component of your compliance plan is lagging, however, relief is on the way. President Bush recently signed HR 3323, which grants a yearlong delay for implementation of electronic eligibility verifications and claims submissions standards. The new deadline will be October 16, 2003.
If your organization will miss the original HIPAA compliance date for electronic transactions, you must submit a compliance plan to CMS, detailing why the original deadline (10/16/2002) was missed, and what's being done to ensure that the new deadline (10/16/2003) will be met. All compliance extension plans must include a budget, schedule, work plan, and implementation strategy.
Remember: this deadline extension does not apply to the implementation of HIPAA privacy requirements. The deadline for implementation of HIPAA privacy requirements is still April 14, 2003.