HHS announced a final rule that establishes a unique health plan identifier (HPID). Currently, when a health care provider bills a health plan, that plan may use a wide range of different identifiers that do not have a standard format.  As a result, health care providers run into a number of time-consuming problems, such as misrouting of transactions, rejection of transactions due to insurance identification errors, and difficulty determining patient eligibility.  This change is expected to greatly simplify these processes.

The rule also makes final a one-year proposed delay – from Oct. 1, 2013, to Oct. 1, 2014– in the compliance date for use of new codes that classify diseases and health problems. These code sets, known as the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition diagnosis and procedure codes, or ICD-10, will include codes for new procedures and diagnoses that improve the quality of information available for quality improvement and payment purposes.

View the entire Press Release from CMS.

A CMS Fact Sheet is available here.

Read the Final Rule that includes this information beginning on page 1 of the document.