Released on: August 1, 2008, 1:14 pm

Press Release Author: Healthcare IT Transition Group

Industry: Healthcare

Press Release Summary: To help get health claims paid, a new service is being
offered to providers, billers and others who need to add Provider Taxonomy codes to
their billing databases. A leading authority in healthcare IT offers taxonomy and
license data, as well as batch NPI lookup and pre-processed NPI registry files.

Press Release Body: Tulsa OK - Healthcare IT Transition Group (HITTG), one of the
nation's leading authorities on National Provider Identifier (NPI) implementation,
has developed a low-cost data service for providers, billers and clearinghouses that
have discovered they need to add Provider Taxonomy codes to their billing databases.
Provider Taxonomy is a standard code set that specifies a healthcare provider's
specialty or care setting in electronic health insurance claims, and has been
adopted by health plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, as a way to resolve NPI
ambiguities.

"Our research showed as far back as 2004 that Provider Taxonomy was going to be a
key to NPI implementation," said HITTG Chief Analyst Martin Jensen. "We've been
trying to spread the word about sensible approaches to the use of taxonomy,
especially in regard to the various providers that may appear on claims as Referring
Providers, Ordering Physicians and the like. We've presented at national conferences
and developed publications, webinars and videos on the topic, but now we have come
to aid our provider community more directly, by actually delivering the codes they
need to get claims paid by improving crosswalk profiles."

HITTG released research in April that showed that as many as 57% of the nation's
health plans were employing the taxonomy code as part of their NPI crosswalking
strategy, to match incoming 837 claims against their legacy provider identifiers.
Unfortunately, that same research showed 44% of providers were having difficulties
satisfying those same requirements (source: http:// hittransition.com/npisurvey0804/
).

"In the run up to the May 23 NPI compliance date, providers and their vendors
hurried to add NPI to their lookup tables. Even small practices may have hundreds of
providers that refer patients in, while hospitals will have thousands or tens of
thousands. A reference lab may have provider tables that exceed six figures. We're
giving those folks a way to add accurate taxonomy values for literally pennies
apiece," said Jensen. "A payer may accept claims without taxonomies, or with default
values provided by clearinghouses. But once the claim gets through the door, it may
be held up for matching if the taxonomy sent does not match the payer's
expectations. Sending a taxonomy designated by the provider on their own NPI record
is the surest way to keep the claim from pending."

The Taxonomizer service offers comprehensive taxonomy and affiliated state license
number updates in as little as two business days. TaxonomizerPlus adds the Other
Identifiers listed on the provider's NPI record, such as Medicare OSCAR, UPIN and
Medicaid IDs. The service, based on National Plan & Provider Enumeration System
(NPPES) data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is offered
separately, or can be provided as part of HITTG's NPI Lookup service, which performs
an advanced search for NPI registry data, including NPI numbers and state licenses,
based on provider names, addresses and other data. The NPI matching service
developed by HITTG, employing cutting edge matching algorithms, provides superior
NPI search for provider databases, and offers a fast, low-cost batch method to
search NPI data. HITTG also provides pre-processed NPI directory files suitable for
use within typical healthcare information technology environments.

For more information, visit http://hittransition.com/datasvcs/ or contact Healthcare
IT Transition Group at 918-392-0567.

Taxonomizer and TaxonomizerPlus are service marks of Healthcare IT Transition Group.


Web Site: http://hittransition.com/datasvcs

Contact Details: 5810 East Skelly Dr, Suite 715
Tulsa, OK 74135
(918) 392-0567