Medicare Readies Attachments Test

HDM Breaking News, February 25, 2005

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc. this spring will test electronic attachments for Medicare claims with Empire Medicare Services in New York.

Such tests, using the ANSI 275 and 277 standard transaction sets, could make a forthcoming HIPAA electronic attachments standard easier to implement, says Tim Eggena, a vice president with Horsham, Pa.-based NextGen, a vendor of software for physician offices. "Let's go pilot this before the rule's finalized and see how it works," he adds.

Attachments the vendor and Medicare contractor will test include laboratory results and a number of clinical reports. These include specialty consultation notes, discharge notes, initial assessments, nursing and physician notes, and electroencephalograph (brain waves) results.

The testing is one of several new transactions processing initiatives discussed in the March cover story of Health Data Management.

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