A new Implementation Acknowledgement for Health Care Insurance (999)
Implementation Guide -- 005010X231 -- has recently been developed by
X12C/TG4/WG1; which is the Functional Acknowledgement work group within
the Management Transaction Sets task group of the Communication and
Controls Subcommittee of Accredited Standards Committee X12.

This Implementation Acknowledgement for Health Care Insurance
Implementation Guide will be available for download, review, and public
comments starting on Monday, 21 November 2005. Public comments will be
accepted through 5:00 pm Eastern time on Friday, 23 December 2005.

The purpose of the 005010X231 Implementation Guide is to provide
standardized data content and structure that enables a receiver of a
transaction specified in an X12 Implementation Guideline, related to
Health Care Insurance business processes, to report the syntactical and
relational analysis of the received transaction, or to acknowledge
receipt of an error-free transaction set. In particular, note that ...
· this 999 implementation guide can NOT be used for responding to just
the X12 standard transaction [see the 997 transaction set and its
005010X230], and
· this 999 implementation guide can NOT be used for any application
level validations [see the 824 transaction set and its 005010X186].

The authors of this guide will consider all comments following the
public comment period. Official work group responses will be posted to
the on-line conference at least 15 days prior to the corresponding
Informational Forum. This is X12's only unconstrained public comment
period. For a complete understanding of changes being suggested and/or
made to the guide, reviewers should monitor the on-line conference
during the public comment period and consider all author responses prior
to the Informational Forum.

An announcement of the corresponding Informational Forum will be made
later. The Informational Forum, held during an X12 Trimester Meeting,
probably the one during the first full week of February, 2006, [see
http://x12.org/x12org/meetings/x12trimt/index.cfm ], is the final X12
opportunity to comment: but only on modifications based on the received
public comments. After that, the guide is finalized for movement
through the Communications and Controls Subcommittee (X12C) and X12
publication approval processes; and perhaps proposal as a new HIPAA
standard.

Starting on 21 November, the draft Implementation Guide will be
available for free download at:
http://www.wpc-edi.com/products/publications/X231 .
Comments on the draft can be submitted starting on 21 November by
anybody -- X12 member or not -- via the on-line conference at:
http://www.wpc-edi.com/wrapper/Itemid,344 .

This new Implementation Guide is not a counterpart of any that have been
adopted under HIPAA, and no official discussions regarding any such
adoption have been held. A factor in such discussions, should they be
initiated, will be any comments received. Voluntary use, once this
guide is published as a Type 3 Technical Report (TR3), is, of course,
permissible at any time based on negotiated agreements between willing
trading partners. HIPAA is a floor, not a ceiling!

Participation in the public comment period is open to all who may be
interested; whether or not an X12 member. Please participate -- this
is the highest leverage opportunity for anybody outside of the authors
to impact this document.

Dave Feinberg
Co-chair, HIPAA Implementation Work Group
Insurance Subcommittee (X12N)
Accredited Standards Committee X12
Rensis Corporation [A Consulting Company]
206-617-1717
DAFeinberg@...