If you practise Alt/Comp Med in USA, see the press release

March 7, 2003

Hi All,

If you practise Alt/Comp Med in USA, see the press release, below.

Rgds,

Phil

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ELEVEN DAYS REMAINING TO SECURE RIGHTS TO USE ABC

CODES IN HIPAA TRANSACTIONS ALBUQUERQUE, NM.

March 5, 2003. Health industry businesses and practitioners have

until March 16, 2003, to register for rights to use ABC codes in

HIPAA transactions. Those that do not register will be locked out of

code use in these transactions for two years, according to a Health

and Human Services (HHS) mandate.

Registrations are soaring as organizations and individuals across

the healthcare continuum prepare to implement the codes in

healthcare research, management and commerce applications.

Current code set users and brand new registrants include HIPAA

trading partners, business associates and vendors such as

software application developers and information technology

companies; administrative and claims-related businesses;

Medicare/Medicaid and private health plans; provider organizations;

conventional, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

practitioners; government agencies; employers and academic

institutions with CAM programs.

ABC codes reflect growing consumer demand for services offered

by over three million licensed healthcare practitioners, other than

conventional physicians. By describing alternative medicine,

nursing and other integrative healthcare practices, the codes plug

gaps in the American Medical Association’s CPT codes and the

government’s HCPCS Level II codes.

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson authorized commercial use and

evaluation of ABC codes as an exception and proposed

modification to HIPAA transaction and code set standards.

Registration for using ABC codes is free at

http://www.alternativelink.comand takes less than ten minutes. It

includes an opinion poll that fulfills registrant obligations under the

HIPAA exception.

Once enrolled, registrants can opt in or out of code set use and

evaluation, as they see fit. ABC codes are maintained by The

Foundation for Integrative Healthcare, a non-profit organization, and

Alternative Link, a privately-held New Mexico company. The

Foundation for Integrative Healthcare (http://www.fihc.org) manages

information on the characteristics and outcomes of care to help

health industry organizations and practitioners make rational

decisions that improve public health, industry efficiencies and

socioeconomic development.

Alternative Link (http://www.alternativelink.com) delivers information

products and consulting services that help health industry

organizations and practitioners improve public health, business

efficiencies and socioeconomic development. Individuals and

organizations can secure rights to use ABC codes in HIPAA

transactions by registering at http://www.alternativelink.com by

March 16, 2003.

For information, contact Cheri Dunkleberger at 505.875.0001

(MST), or cheri.dunkleberger

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Best regards,

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March 10, 2003

ELEVEN DAYS REMAINING TO SECURE RIGHTS TO USE ABC CODES IN HIPAA TRANSACTIONS ALBUQUERQUE, NM. March 5, 2003. Health industry businesses and practitioners have until March 16, 2003, to register for rights to use ABC codes in HIPAA transactions. Those that do not register will be locked out of code use in these transactions for two years, according to a Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate.

Dear Phil, and All,

Bill Terry is the security administrator for the Univ. of Texas system and administrates the four medical center's response to HIPAA. He responds here to your need to register for HIPAA. BTW, AAOM will help you if you feel you need to register after reading this.

In Gratitude,

Emmanuel Segmen

Bill Terry writes,

All medical practitioners including provider, insurance, etc, need be compliant with the HIPPA privacy regulation which become law at the end of April. All need to be "in compliance" with the regulations. Any one that handles information that can identify a patient comes under this. The following are included: a health care provider that conducts certain transactions in electronic form (called here a "covered health care provider"), a health care clearinghouse, a health plan. Look at http://cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/support/tools/decisionsupport/default.aspThere is no registration, that I know of. The link below, http://www.alternativelink.comand is a bogus URL. It should be http://www.alternativelink.comhttp://www.hcfa.gov/medicare/hcpcs.htm is a URL that died in 2001.Take a look at http://www.hhs.gov in particular, these may help.http://cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/default.asphttp://cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/general/deadlines.aspApparently there are some registrations required to use the alternative medicine codes which are sort of in a test mode. I guess from their website that http://www.alternativelink.com is a consortium of some sort and registering with them will allow groups to use the alternative codes. This is a bit out of my realm.I'd get to work on looking at the real government URL above to get an overview. Then look at the alternativelink stuff. I don't know if they are real or not.Hope this helps,BillAt 10:23 PM 3/7/2003 , you wrote:

Hey Bill, My question to you is does my friend and colleague Dr. Kang need to register with HIPAA if he is working as a Chinese doctor and acupuncturist in San Francisco? He does do a lot of Medi-Cal and Medicare charges. He also charges insurance companies who pay for acupuncture treatments. Should I be helping him to register with HIPAA? There's a ton of individual practitioner clinics in Austin and other Texas cities. Are they about to lose their payments from insurance companies as well as Medicare payments?Thanks,Emmanuel