Since some of you wrote me asking why there's a new draft version of
X12N's version 005010 270/271 Health Care Eligibility/Benefit Inquiry
and Information Response Implementation Guide -- 005010X279 replacing
005010X203 -- I thought the announcement at
http://www.x12.org/x12org/docs/PRX12CommitmenttoCollaboration_20070814.pdf
would provide some background.

As you will note in the announcement, the main reason for this newer
document is that some of the search options for identifying patients
described in the 'published' X203 didn't work out as well as originally
thought, so modified ones were devised. X12's publication process
requires a distinctly identified document to incorporate these
modifications, so X279 was born. It seemed a better approach at this
stage than an Errata [which used to be called an Addenda].

"The new TR3 now includes requirements that health plans return much
more detailed 271 [eligibility, coverage or benefit information]
responses including Plan and Benefit Begin dates, Plan Name, Primary
Care Physician (if applicable), other Health Plans (if known),10 high
level benefits, as well as all demographic information needed to
identify the individual on all other subsequent EDI transactions,"
states Stuart Beaton, Co-Chair of the authoring Health Care Eligibility
Work Group.

Since this new TR3 is planned to be proposed as a replacement standard
for adoption under HIPAA, achieving broad consensus on its contents
is critical for its future use in the health care industry. As a
consequence, everybody -- ASC X12 members and others -- is encouraged to
review and comment on the freely downloadable draft document. This is
the highest leverage opportunity for anybody outside of the authors to
impact it.

Dave Feinberg
Rensis Corporation [A Consulting Company]
206-617-1717
DAFeinberg@...
Author of "Understanding HIPAA Communications"