HIPAA Mandates & Meaningful Use in ECLIPSE

In July, 2011, I happened upon a competitor proudly noting the upcoming availabilty of a “prototype” ANSI 835 remittance file. (A remittance file is an electronic file provided by a payer. It contains info about the disposition of your claims and can be processed automatically by your software.)  The announcement gave the impression that this HIPAA mandate from October, 2002 — almost 10 years ago — was somehow brand new.

Today, doctors are concerned about Meaningful Use (if you’re unfamiliar with the term, read a brief overview here)… but it may not be the only important thing to evaluate when it comes to software. ECLIPSE is certified as a Complete EHR for Meaningful Use. But ECLIPSE incorporated features such as ANSI 835 & 837 electronic billing years ago when they were mandated by HIPAA — before we were “tested” to ensure we were helping you comply with the law. Suppose your software didn’t have adequate security features (also mandated by HIPAA) in 2010… and you were audited or sued? ECLIPSE has kept up with every relevant mandate since 1985. That’s a 25 year track record of meeting deadlines that affect how and whether you get paid, as well as how well protected you are.

So, the next time a sales rep tries to impress you with his/her company’s electronic billing expertise & capabilities, consider that, in 2003, before most HIPAA legislation went into effect, Blue Cross Blue Shield carriers across the United States arranged to do their initial claim testing with ECLIPSE as a partner, indicating that they’d “heard though the grapevine” that our personnel “knew what you were doing” and wanted to do their initial testing with ECLIPSE. We process millions of transactions for your colleagues every week and periodically re-certify our files to ensure compliance.

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