Deadline To Apply for One-Year Extension to Comply With Certain Provisions Of HIPAA Is October 15, 2002

William Wolff, MD, Chair of the Legislative Ad Hoc Committee and Philip Pinsky, NYSRS Legal Counsel, have alerted us to the following matter.

On March 29,2002, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a press release and model compliance plan that will allow health plans, health care clearinghouses and health care providers to receive a one-year extension to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) of 1996 governing electronic health care transactions.  This voluntary request for extension was authorized by Congress last year as part of the Administrative Simplification Compliance Act.

This Press Release explains the procedure for requesting an extension of the deadline for compliance from October 16, 2002 to October 16, 2003 in more detail and may be accessed by CMS' s hyperlink:  http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/default.asp . Instructions for filling out the application form can be found at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/ASCAForm.asp . Another website with information is:  http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/PRelease.htm . Their frequently asked question section is: http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/ASCA%20FAQs-1-31.htm .
The original deadline for compliance with the electronic transactions rule was October 16, 2002 for all covered entities except small health plans¹, which by law had an additional year.  To obtain the extension, a covered entity must submit a compliance plan on or before Oct. 15, 2002, which may be downloaded by going to CMS's Web site: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/ASCAForm.asp
          
Please note that the extension Qnlv applies to the HIPAA Standard Code sets and not to the medical record privacy standards which require compliance by Apri114, 2003. A covered entity may submit its extension plan electronically through CMS ' s web site and CMS will provide electronic confirmation of receipt of the compliance plan. While a covered entity may submit its own version of an extension plan as long as it provides the equivalent information asked for in the model and a covered entity may submit a plan on paper, we advise using the model. 
You can access additional information with respect to the specific standards and to subscribe to the HIPAA-REGS list serve to receipt HIPAA updates by using the following hyperlinks at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/lsnotify.htm 
Covered entities ( except for small health plans) that do not submit a compliance plan must comply with the HIP AA electronic transactions rule by October 16, 2002 and should prior to that date contact the Medicaid State Agency(s) with which  it does do business, if not already noticed by them to arrange for and perform a compliance transaction test.

 ¹Sma11 health plans with less than $5 million in receipts already have until October 2003 to comply and do not need to submit a compliance plan.

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