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Overview / Leadership
Accomplishments
Transactions & Code Set Resources
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Reverse Chronology of Accomplishments
September - October 2003: The Division of Medical Assistance (Medicaid) will be hosting a series of workshops during this time period entitled "Automated Solutions for Today and Tomorrow". For your convenience these workshops are being held in four locations throughout the state. For more information or to register please visit our website at www.mahealthweb.com
January - August 2003: In early 2003 HECC meetings featured presentations from payers/health plans sharing their best practices and lessons learned with other payers/health plans. Also, the two major clearinghouse organizations, WebMD and ProxyMed, made presentations to HECC on their approaches to HIPAA compliance:
In June - July 2003, the Division of Medical Assistance (Medicaid) sponsored a series of eight sessions on five separate dates in locations throughout Massachusetts. Attendees could choose among sessions on HIPAA 101, Best Business Practices, Transactions, Impact of HIPAA on Paper Claims Submitters, a CMS Update, and DMA On-line Transactions. Also, there were exhibit tables that included many health plans, CMS intermediaries, billing software vendors, and clearinghouses.
On July 28, 2003 the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society held a half day HIPAA Transactions and Code Sets Briefing at MMS offices. The agenda included HIPAA Implementation and Testing Updates from four major health plans and a series of breakout discussions.
December 2002: On December 11, 2002 HECC and a benefits consulting firm, Watson-Wyatt Worldwide (WWW), sponsored a seminar entitled "Electronic Enrollment: The Impact of HIPAA" at WWW's offices in Wellesley, MA. Over fifty individuals attended, representing major employers, benefits consulting companies, and enrollment service vendors/third party administrators (TPAs). The format consisted of presentations from five health plans and three TPAs outlining their plans to support the HIPAA mandated 834 enrollment transaction format.
June 2002 - January 2003: From June to September 2002 HECC focused on reaching out to the provider associations throughout the state of Massachusetts. A "provider roadshow" workgroup was created under the leadership of Kathy Connolly, HIPAA coordinator for Tufts Health Plan. The workgroup developed a set of materials that was presented at CMS regional meetings and at provider association meetings.
Between October 2002 and January 2003, various HECC members made Provider Roadshow presentations at approximately twenty CMS regional meetings and provider association meetings.
June 2002: HECC helped organize and plan two major meeting in June 2002.
On June 19, 2002, together with a healthcare consulting company, the Massachusetts Hospital Association co-sponsored a program at the Massachusetts Medical Society. The format ran from 8:30 AM to 2:30 AM and included HIPAA updates from six health plans/payers, presentations from Partners Healthcare and NEHEN, updates from five Hospital Information System vendors (IDX, McKesson/HBOC, Eclipsys, Meditech, and Siemens) on their HIPAA plans, and a series of vendor presentations. As part of this HIPAA awareness effort, MHA circulated a survey to its member hospitals asking questions on the status of their HIPAA implementation efforts.
On June 28, 2002, HECC held a full day "All Payer-Vendor HIPAA Forum" at the Massachusetts Medical Society. Significant support was received from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young in the planning of this program. Efforts were made to identify and invite every billing software company, clearinghouse, and billing service vendor doing business in Massachusetts. There were over 125 attendees, including approximately 70 vendors. The meeting was designed to encourage small group, interactive discussions. Each of twelve health plans/payers had a booth and a series of round-robin sessions were held at which attendees could rotate among presentations.
After lunch, leaders representing four "complex" provider types that present special HIPAA implementation challenges (mental health/substance abuse, DME/home infusion, home health/hospice, and anesthesia) led panel discussions. Finally, individual vendors could schedule one-on-one appointments with health plans/payers.
For these meetings, HECC developed the "Question Grid" templates, tools designed to facilitate communication and understanding among payers, providers, and vendors involved in the HIPAA implementation effort. Fifteen health plans/payers completed the Payer Question Grids and made their responses available to the provider and vendor community.
May 2002: On May 17, 2002, the Division of Medical Assistance sponsored a by invitation meeting of approximately ten selected vendors (billing software companies, clearinghouses, and billing service vendors) at the Massachusetts Medical Society. The purpose of the meeting was to create a dialog among these vendors and the HECC members, in order to better plan for HIPAA implementation and for the June 28, 2002 All Payer-Vendor HIPAA Forum. The meeting format was a series of short presentations from eleven health plans/payers followed by several break-out sessions, each of which included vendors, payers, and providers. Each group reported on their findings and the meeting concluded with a question and answer session.
March 2002: The first meeting of the HIPAA Education Coordinating Committee (H.E.C.C.) was held at the Consortium offices. The group decided that they should collaborate on community educational events that would include the three major parties impacted by HIPAA transaction/code sets requirements: payers, providers, and vendors. One of the first products developed by HECC was a "solutions model" that described the various submission models and claim pathways. The solutions model helped HECC develop a common language and understanding as to how claims got from providers to payers.
January 2002: In late 2001, the Consortium's Operations Forum recognized the need to address the emerging challenge of complying with the HIPAA mandated transactions and code sets. The leadership of the Operations Forum decided that the meeting on January 17, 2002 should be dedicated to HIPAA compliance. The meeting was held at the Massachusetts Medical Society and nine payers/health plans were asked to give presentations on the status of their HIPAA compliance efforts. The presentations were well received and the attendees urged the Consortium to follow-up with the payers/health plans and with provider associations to convene a group that would focus on HIPAA transactions and code sets.
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