What Practices Can Do Now to Prepare for 5010
The biggest concern for practices will be complete implementation and full functionality of the 5010 transactions at or before the compliance deadline to avoid transaction rejections and subsequent payment delays. Practices can begin now to prepare for this upcoming effort by developing their own implementation plan. The following are various tasks to include in an implementation plan.
- Talk to your current practice management system vendor.
- Talk to your clearinghouses or billing service, if you use either one, and health insurance payers.
- Identify changes to data reporting requirements.
- Identify potential changes to existing practice work flow and business processes.
- Identify staff training needs.
- Test with your trading partners, e.g., payers and clearinghouses.
- Budget for implementation costs, including expenses for system changes, resource materials, consultants, and training.