Late Thursday afternoon BCBSM sent us this announcement:

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December 29, 2011
To:  All electronic trading partners
Subject:  HIPAA 5010 implementation

As a clearinghouse, BCBSM has been actively monitoring industry readiness to fully implement HIPAA v5010 by Jan. 1, 2012, as well as implementing its own system changes to achieve v5010 compliance.  BCBSM intends to be fully 5010 compliant by Jan. 1, 2012.

Given the state of industry readiness for full 5010 implementation, BCBSM has instituted procedures to identify and triage submission and processing errors in its own systems.   If errors occur with our trading partners. submissions or internal processing, BCBSM will actively communicate with the trading partner to achieve a compliant end-state.

On Jan 1, 2012, submitters who are APPROVED for v5010 production and have not requested an extension by completing a Migration Commitment form should submit version 5010 institutional and professional claims for the following payers:

            BCBSM, FEP, MOS, Auto National and NASCO
            Medicare Advantage
            BCN
            Medicaid

Please do not submit v5010 claims to BCBSM for the following payers until further notice:

            Commercial Payers (Source of pay = CI)
            Medicare
            DMEnsions

We will notify you as soon there is a change in status.
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Here is what this means for you as a Genius client:

This email is going out on the last business day of the year.  If you've not moved to 5010 yet, I recommend you keep billing in the old format until the middle of January to let the dust settle down at BCBSM.  You do not need to complete a "Migration Commitment" form as BCBSM has already promised Genius clients that they can continue the old 4010 format through January 30, 2012.

This will allow us to monitor how well Medicaid and BCN claims are processed during the first week of January.  If you are an early adopter and try sending Medicaid and BCN, I'd like to hear personally from you how it went.  Please all me directly at 586-365-4712.

If you bill Medicaid and can't afford to hold your claims for a week or two, then you better update and try sending some after 12/31/2011. Again, I'd like to personally hear from you on your progress or questions.  Frankly I can't believe it will be working perfectly 1/1/2012, but we'll see.

If you have already been sending some claims in 5010 then CONGRATULATIONS!  I recommend you keep sending in 5010 for the lines of business that have already been working for you.  Go ahead and try a few BCN and maybe some Medicaid too, but not before 1/1/2012.

In all cases, DON'T send Commercial, Medicare, or DMEnsion until you get word from us or BCBSM.  We don't know when that will be, but I'm guessing they will be trying real hard to take them by 1/30/2012.

Our Support Department is getting a very high call volume.  If you have a question on 5010 please try calling me directly.  Please make certain you have read the BCBSM THOMAS information at www.geniussolutions.com/5010 before calling.  If you get my voicemail, please leave your number, name, and best time to call back.  Please continue to call the Support Department for AutoUpdate or other non-5010 questions.

We plan to have a First Friday of the Month Conference call January 6, 2012 at 10:00.  I'll probably send invites via email next Thursday. Hopefully we'll have more news by then of what is happening and what you should do when.

Mark Thuemmel
Genius Solutions, Inc.
586-365-4712 direct