A draft version of X12N's version 005010 277 Health Care Claim
Acknowledgement Implementation Guide, 005010X214, is now available for
public review and comment as a key step in its X12 Type 3 Technical
Report (TR3) publication process.

The public comment period for this guide began on 28 February 2006 and
will close on Friday, 28 April 2006, at 5:00 pm Eastern time.

The purpose of this 277 Implementation Guide is to:
· provide standard data requirements and content for use of the 277
as a business application acknowledgment to claim submission
transactions (837), and
· meet the health care industry's need for use of the 277 to
acknowledge the acceptance or rejection of claims being considered
for introduction into a payer's adjudication system.

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

An announcement of the Informational Forum will be made later. The
Informational Forum, held during an X12 Trimester Meeting, probably the
one during the first full week of June, 2006, [see
http://x12.org/x12org/meetings/x12trimt/index.cfm ], is the final X12
opportunity to comment: but generally only on modifications based on
the received public comments. After that, the guide is finalized for
movement through the Insurance Subcommittee (X12N) and X12 publication
approval processes.

The draft implementation guide is available for free download at:
http://www.wpc-edi.com/products/publications/x214 . Comments on the
draft may be submitted by anybody -- X12 member or not -- via the
on-line conference at:
http://www.wpc-edi.com/conferences/tg2/implementationguides .

The Health Care Claim Acknowledgement Implementation Guide
Implementation Guide, 005010X214, 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 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 for this guide is open to
all who may be interested; whether or not members of Accredited
Standards Committee X12. 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@...