Survey: Most Physicians Not Ready for HIPAA 5010 on Louisiana Medical News

Survey: Most Physicians Not Ready for HIPAA 5010

By: Staff News Sources

Despite the adoption deadline looming just six months away, most physician practices aren't adequately prepared for the transition to new electronic claims submission standards known as HIPAA 5010, according to June 15th survey results announced by the Medical Group Management Association.

Most billing software vendors are offering the necessary updates, but physicians need to complete the updates and test whether they can submit claims in the new format. Only 9.2% of the practices surveyed by MGMA 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 same 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.

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