News in brief - March 14, 2011

AMA webinar available for 5010 and ICD-10 transitions

The American Medical Association has posted a webinar online to help practices prepare for updated standardized electronic transactions and the rollout of ICD-10. The intention is to reduce the risk that practices will experience cash flow problems while the changes are implemented.

The webinar, "5010 and ICD-10: What They Are and How to Prepare for Them," can be accessed under the "AMA Educational Resources" tab (www.ama-assn.org/go/ICD-10).

It is also listed under the "AMA Educational Resources" tab on a second Web page (www.ama-assn.org/go/5010).

The new format for electronic transactions, 5010, will replace 4010 starting Jan. 1, 2012, and is mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Practices need to start testing upgraded electronic administrative transactions with trading partners this year.

ICD-10-CM, which replaces ICD-9-CM for coding diagnoses, is to be used for all health care services starting Oct. 1, 2013. This change is expected to take significant resources because ICD-10 and ICD-9 are very different.

There will be 68,000 ICD-10 codes from three to seven characters. Only 14,000 codes were included in ICD-9, and they were three to five digits.

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CDC seeks to unify state immunization records

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to link state and local health departments' electronic medical record systems and immunization tracking systems to its vaccine-tracking system known as VTrckS.

All state health departments have some type of immunization tracking system, and the CDC wants to ensure they are interoperable. By consolidating these records, it will be easier for physicians to track immunizations that children have received or need.

The CDC plans to award a 12-month contract on March 31 to a vendor that can provide technical assistance to states and other project partners.

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Tufts moves to acquire Medicaid managed care plan

Tufts Health Plan announced March 1 that it signed a memorandum of understanding to buy a majority share in Network Health, a Medicaid managed care plan owned by Cambridge Health Alliance, a hospital chain serving Boston's northern suburbs.

The announcement came weeks after Tufts, based in Watertown, Mass., and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, based in Wellesley, Mass., announced that they signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a potential merger.

Harvard Pilgrim has more than 1 million members in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Tufts has about 741,000 in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

With the acquisition of Network Health, Tufts would add about 170,000 Medicaid beneficiaries to its rolls. Financial terms of the deal are pending.

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