Contrary to what you may have heard, the HIPAA 5010 compliance deadline of January 1, 2012 has not been extended. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS), has announced that it would not initiate enforcement action with respect to any HIPAA covered entity non-compliant with the ASC X12 Version 5010 standards until 90 days after their January 1, 2012, compliance date, or until March 31, 2012.

The compliance date for implementation of these updated standards remains January 1, 2012.

Will your organization be ready by January 1?

If you will not be ready for the conversion to HIPAA Version 5010, please contact Wellmark’s 5010 Readiness Team at 5010Readiness-Wellmark@wellmark.com.

Please provide:

• details regarding your situation (i.e. experiencing delays with a vendor, billing service or clearinghouse)
• what the remediation plan entails
• your organization’s name and submitter number in the message 

Ready to begin testing, or have technical questions about testing results?

Please contact Wellmark’s EC Solutions staff at 800-407-0267 or ECSolutionsDSM@hp.com.

Have you completed testing and are ready for production?
Wellmark does not have a formal approval process prior to submitting production files. If you are satisfied with the testing results, you may begin submitting 5010 production files whenever your organization is ready. 

Information for Electronic Remittance Advice (835) recipients:

Wellmark will be transitioning all submitters to the HIPAA 5010 version effective January 1, 2012. If your organization would like to receive the HIPAA 5010 version prior to January 1, 2012, please notify the Wellmark EC Solutions Help Desk at 800-407-0267. If your organization will not be ready to accept the HIPAA 5010 version 835 on January 1, 2012, please contact us immediately.

Filing through a clearinghouse? 

The following clearinghouses have successfully tested with Wellmark. 

• ALLSCRIPTS
• BUSINESS RESOURCES LTD
• CAPARIO
• CAREMEDIC SYSTEMS INC
• CLAIMS PROCESSING SERVICE, INC
• CPSI
• ENS
• ePROVIDERS SOLUTIONS
• GATEWAY EDI
• HEALTHFUSION INC
• IDX SYSTEMS CORPORATION
• INFINEDI LLC
• MCKESSON
• MEDASSETS/XACTIMED
• OFFICE ALLY
• PER-SE
• PER-SE TECHNOLOGIES
• PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT INC
• RELAY HEALTH
• SSI
• ZIRMED, INC

Please contact your clearinghouse directly for additional information about their HIPAA 5010 production transition plan.