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Alternative Options
Some practice management system (PMS) vendors are not making all the changes required
to support HIPAA formats initially; rather, they are requiring providers to use
new clearinghouse services. If your PMS vendor is one of these, please make sure
you understand all the new incremental costs and implications that you are facing.
You do have some options to consider.
Our enterprise clearinghouse, AHIN, is available to convert
your current electronic claim format into the new standard format. Those providers
that have not begun testing by August 2003 will receive an enrollment form to use
AHIN as your HIPAA clearinghouse. Please complete and return this form promptly
if you wish to use that service. This service is offered free of charge for claims
filed to Arkansas Blue Cross, Health Advantage, BlueAdvantage Administrators, Medicaid
and Arkansas Medicare Parts A and B. AHIN will also accept claims being routed to
any other "Blue" plan at no cost. However, there is a 10-cent handling fee per claim
for any other commercial carrier.
In addition to AHIN, there are several proven vendor solutions that interact with
major PMS systems to generate HIPAA-formatted claims. In no particular order, a
few are:
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