News in brief - June 27, 2011

Most physicians not prepared for HIPAA 5010, survey finds

With the adoption deadline just six months away, most physician practices aren't preparing for the transition to new electronic claims submission standards known as HIPAA 5010, according to a survey by the Medical Group Management Assn. released June 15.

Most electronic medical record vendors are handling the necessary software updates, but physicians need to test whether they can submit claims in the new format. Only 9.2% of the practices surveyed were conducting internal testing of the new format, and 38.2% hadn't scheduled testing at all.

Of the 356 practices that MGMA surveyed, just 15.2% had conducted an impact analysis to examine what the practice needed to do to prepare. Most practices said they had either not started preparing (45.2%) or were less than 25% done preparing (26.4%).

The survey did not cover whether practices participated in an event that took place the day MGMA released its data. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had declared June 15 as National 5010 Testing Day. The American Medical Association and the MGMA had suggested that CMS conduct such an event.

Information about preparing for HIPAA 5010 is available online (www.getready5010.org).

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ONC offers health IT competency testing

The Health and Human Services Dept. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced the release of the Health Information Technology Professionals Examinations to test the skills of potential or current health IT employees.

The ONC said health care organizations can use the tools to identify additional training needs for existing staff or the competency of job candidates to meet their needs.

The exams, which opened in May, are aligned with specific health IT roles: clinician/practitioner consult, implementation manager, implementation support specialist, practice workflow and information management redesign specialist, technical/software support staff, and trainer (www.hitproexams.org).

Exams will be administered at 230 testing centers across the U.S. at a cost of $299 for the first test and $199 for any additional ones. Vouchers to take the exam for free are available for a limited time.

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