CMS last week told Medicare carriers and intermediaries to slow the payment of electronic claims that don't meet the HIPAA transaction standards, in order to help increase compliance with the rule. CMS instructed carriers and intermediaries to pay the non-compliant claims no earlier than 27 days after receipt instead of 14 days, beginning July 1.
A recent Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society survey of health care organizations found that 45% of providers and 56% of payers were ready to accept or transmit standardized HIPAA transactions. Only 40% of software vendors were ready, down from 47% in an earlier survey.