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January 17, 2002
Bush Signs HIPAA Extension
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The House version of the bill, introduced by Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, was passed on Dec. 4. The Senate passed its version, introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., on Nov. 27. The Senate subsequently accepted the House version by unanimous voice vote on Dec. 12. The bill was presented to Bush on Dec. 18.
According to Modern Healthcare, the measure gives health-care organizations until October 2003 to meet a complex challenge: boiling the 400 or so variations of claim forms now used into eight standard types of transactions.
The streamlining is a key cost-reducing objective of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 .
Last year, the Health and Human Services Departament issued regulations that gave the industry until October 2002 to convert to this set of standardized transactions.
But as Modern Healthcare reports, a lobbying effort spearheaded by health insurers - and joined by the American Medical Association - led congressional leaders to agree that the deadline was too ambitious and that the health-care industry would not be able to complete the technological transformation and testing in time.
But in return for granting an additional year to comply, the legislation forces health plans and providers to hit specific marks on a timeline to compliance.
Among other requirements, the magazine notes, organizations must disclose budget commitments and a concrete work plan by the original October deadline, and they will have to be ready to test electronic connections by April 2003.
"It's not a delay; it's an extension," said William Braithwaite, who until last month was the key HHS official in charge of developing HIPAA regulations. "And anyone who thinks they can relax and do nothing is going to be slapped upside the head."
That also goes for extensive rules issued earlier this year governing privacy of patients' medical information, said Braithwaite, a Washington-based consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The deadline for complying with privacy and confidentiality rules is April 2003, but health-care groups, including the American Hospital Association, are questioning whether that timeline also is too short.
One section of the just-passed legislation requires healthcare organizations to protect the confidentiality of patient data in business transactions by April 2003 whether data are transmitted in a HIPAA-compliant format or some other way.
By writing that proviso into the law, Congress underscored its resolve to resist further lobbying efforts and guarantee protection of sensitive patient data in step with electronic standards, Braithwaite said.
To read the Modern Healthcare article, click here.
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