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Except for a few exceptions, CMS will no longer process paper claims as of July 5.
According to a Change Request transmittal posted Jan. 14, all paper claims Medicare carriers receive will appear on a report. “Providers will have to submit an explanation of why they are submitting this way,” a CMS official said. “If they cannot justify a reason, their claims will be denied.”
Even though CMS has set a July deadline for the electronic claims, the agency has not yet set a deadline for enforcing HIPAA-compliant code sets, said the official. Since CMS' original deadline for filing HIPAA-compliant claims a year-and-a-half ago, about 17 percent of all providers who file are still non-compliant, according to the official, but those providers submit less than 1 percent of all the claims Medicare processes. “We're just trying to get everyone else onboard,” he said.
Part of HIPAA's Administrative Simplification Compliance Act, small providers and those who meet other exception criteria can continue to submit paper claims. To view these exceptions, and for more HIPAA information, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa.
