HIMSS survey paints dismal picture

The healthcare industry is "not even close" to standardizing healthcare business transactions and realizing the promise of a return on its investment in IT, even though the government deadline to do so passed nine months ago, according to results of a survey conducted by Phoenix Health Systems and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. The deadline for meeting Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Transactions and Codes Sets passed last October, yet the industry has made little progress toward standardizing healthcare business transactions.

Phoenix Health Systems found that many providers and payers may be ready to produce compliant transactions, but their trading partners cannot accept or transmit them. Survey results are based on responses from 540 healthcare industry representatives polled June 1 to 15. A return on investment and HIPAA compliance will be realized only when the industry as a whole decides to work together to conform to the guidelines, according to HIMSS.