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Healthcare Billing And Management

A non-profit, educational resource and advocacy group, the Healthcare Billing & Management Association (HBMA) recently participated in a hearing, which was conducted by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS). HBMA actually represents third-party billing professionals and medical billers. The Government Relations Committee Member of HBMA, Dave Nicholson also went on to submit a testimony to the NCVHS Subcommittee regarding standards on the issue of restarting or resuming Health Plan ID implementation during the hearing.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had earlier delayed the implementation of regulations that require the adoptions of HPIDs because of industry oppositions, and this happened a few years ago. The main purpose of the NCVHS hearing was to seek out further valuable inputs from the industry stakeholders like HBMA when NCVHS and CMS are considering how to proceed with the implementation of HPIDs.

Reports from several reliable sources claim that several staff members from the Division of National Standards of the CMS joined the Standards Subcommittee of NCVHS. Apart from HBMA, the NCVHS hearing also featured testimonies from the Department of Defense/Veterans Administration, MGMA represented provider groups, development organizations, clearinghouses, and health insurers.

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Government Relations Committee

Most of the witnesses who were present at the hearing testified against the adoption of HPIDs. Some of the witnesses claimed that they are deeply satisfied with the current system, while others argued that steps to add HPIDs would not bring out any sort of meaningful improvement or enhancement to the existing system. However, the officials from HBMA stated that HPIDs should be actually used in conjunction along with a policy identification number. They also used a sports metaphor to state the current situation of HPIDs.

HBMA officials added that the Health Plan ID will be sufficient for customers to get into the ballpark, but the policy identification number will help them to get into the right seat, row, and section. This sports metaphor used by HBMA resonated incredibly well with the committee members who were present at the hearing.

It is reported that HBMA will get one more opportunity to discuss the future of HPIDs during the annual meeting of Government Relations Committee with CMS in the month of June. Experts expect that this proposed meeting would reveal more information about the future of HPIDs.

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