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Mercator's Healthcare Integration Package Version 2.1 Helps Healthcare Organisations Meet Impending HIPAA Deadline

Announcement posted by Mercator Software 12 Sep 2002

Powerful Compliance Checking and Exception Reporting, Enhanced Out-of-the-Box Healthcare Standard Support Affords Timely HIPAA Compliance with Minimal Programming; Positions Users for Strategic Advantage
Mercator Software, today announced the general availability of Version 2.1 of its Healthcare Integration Package (HCIP), featuring improved compliance checking and exception reporting and out-of-the-box healthcare standards support. These enhancements strengthen HCIP's ability to help healthcare organisations successfully comply with the federally mandated Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA), which requires the standardisation of electronic transactions and code sets by October 2003.

Market research indicates that the majority of healthcare organisations are behind schedule with regard to HIPAA standards testing and implementation. By minimising the need for backend system re-engineering and providing a flexible, scalable architecture, Mercator HCIP Version 2.1 provides healthcare organisations a convenient, non-invasive way to comply with HIPAA requirements - and position themselves for long-term operational advantage.
HCIP Version 2.1 offers new verification features for compliance with HIPAA Implementation Guide Requirements testing, as well as functional enhancements for EDI X12 Standard Integrity testing. HCIP v2.1's exception reporting enables users to pinpoint errors and bad data down to the specific line item and element.

The new release supports both Functional Acknowledgments, which indicate acceptance or rejection of functional groups and transactions, and Interchange Acknowledgments, which advise receipt of an electronic interchange. In keeping with Mercator's policy of rapid support for new and revised standards, HCIP v2.1 supports all changes associated with the HIPAA Addenda Final Review Draft of August 2002, including modifications to the Health Care Claim Status Request and Response, Health Care Services Review, and Health Care Claims transactions.

"We understand that many healthcare payers and providers are behind the curve for the October 2003 HIPAA deadline, and we are moving aggressively to provide enhancements to HCIP that will help them close the gap," said David M. Raye, Senior Vice President of Mercator's Healthcare Industry Solutions Unit. "Mercator HCIP Version 2.1's compliance checking and exception reporting cuts delays in identifying HIPAA-related transaction errors from days to minutes. And the HIPAA Addenda support further strengthens the out-of-the-box functionality that helps users ramp-up quickly."

"Mercator has over a dozen years of experience in healthcare integration and is one of the pioneers in providing HIPAA compliance," stated Michael J. Collins, Mercator Chief Marketing Officer. "Our Healthcare Integration Package is a market-leading solution for healthcare application integration used by dozens of leading healthcare organisations including KPS Health Plans, Mutual of Omaha, The Principal Financial Group, Unisys, plus over seventy percent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield organisations, including Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and Premera."

The HCIP solution provides a graphical user interface for creating, viewing, and maintaining application objects, plus a rich set of standards-based data object definitions (type trees) and pre-packaged functions to create rules for data-content transformation, data validation, and intelligent routing. Without manual programming, HCIP v2.1 enables users to send and receive electronic healthcare transactions, receive and transmit data using legacy standards, integrate with internal applications and data, and leverage integration investment across multiple projects.

"Mercator's Healthcare Integration Package will help healthcare organisations come through the October 2003 HIPAA deadline with flying colours," said Mercator Chairman and CEO Roy C.King. "By leveraging Mercator, healthcare organisations will not only be able to comply with HIPAA but will be in a better position for future eHealth initiatives that involve optimised business processes, net-centric applications, and robust healthcare data practices."
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About Mercator
Mercator Software's intelligent business integration solutions unify internal operations and connect them with partners and customers while leveraging current technology investments. More than 1,100 enterprise customers in financial services, healthcare, utilities, manufacturing, retail, and distribution, use Mercator software to maximise their performance. Mercator is headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut, US. It has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR and Tokyo. Additional information about Mercator may be found at www.mercator.com.