Version 5010 Beta Testing Underway By CMS

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has initiated testing for Version 5010 implementation policy, which is part of the Health Insurance Reform modifications to HIPAA, according to a report by the American Academy of Professional Coders.

Version 5010 will replace the existing standards and will allow for reporting the extra digits required for ICD-10-CM coding system implementation, scheduled to take effect on Oct. 13, 2013, according to the report.

All covered entities will be required to achieve two levels of compliance over the next two years. Level I compliance, which is due by Dec. 31, 2010, means "a covered entity can demonstrate that it could create and receive compliant transactions, resulting from the compliance of all design/build activities and internal testing," according to CMS. Level II compliance, which is due by Dec. 31, 2011, means "a covered entity has completed end-to-end testing with each of its trading partners and is able to operate in production mode with the new versions of the standards."

Full compliance will be required by Jan. 1, 2012.

CMS has set timelines for beta testing STC and the Common Edits and Enhancements Module, which is set to begin this month. A full timeline is available in the AAPC report. The organization advises coders to keep a watch on the CMS 2010 Transmittal Web site for updates.

Read the AAPC's report on Version 5010 beta testing.