Chiropractors Need to Be Aware That Medicare's HIPAA 5010 Non-Enforcement Period is Ending Soon

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Seattle, Washington, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) February 7, 2012 -- In the wake of converting electronic claims submissions from the old 4010 to the new, mandatory 5010 format, Medicare has granted a grace period whereby carriers are required to accept either format.

Tom Necela, DC of The Strategic Chiropractor -- a consultant to the chiropractic profession who teaches chiropractors proper billing, coding, documentation and business strategies -- warns DC's that this “non-enforcement” period ends on March 31, 2012. After that time, carriers that receive claims in the old 4010 format will not attempt to repair these claims and process them accordingly. In other words, chiropractors who submit claims electronically and fail to convert to 5010 Format by then will risk those claims not being paid.

Presently, Medicare contractors are issuing N2226 or N2228 error codes to indicate that the claim has been received in the wrong (old) format. Chiropractors who submit claims to Medicare and receive these error codes should check with their clearinghouse or billing system to ensure that their claims are properly going out in the 5010 Format.

In a recent MedLearn Matters Alert, Medicare also clarified that providers should not assume that they will receive an error code for every claim billed in the incorrect format. Furthermore, Medicare emphasized the fact that the practice of sending error codes will discontinue at the conclusion of the 90 day non-enforcement period (ending March 31, 2012).

Chiropractors, the message is clear: if you are going to submit claims electronically to Medicare, you better make sure that they are in the 5010 Format…quickly! Don’t risk claims denials due to this relatively simple conversion process!!

More information can be found online at http://www.strategicdc.com

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