![[Stratford Software, Inc.]](images/Stratford_logo.gif){kind=logo}
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The Stratford EDI software is HIPAA ANSI X.12N v4010/5010-A1 compliant.Our program was certified by NHIC New England Medicare on June 11, 2002 and by NHIC California Medicare on June 20, 2002. All licensed Stratford users have available a version of the software that is capable of transmitting provider claims in version 4010/5010-A1 that is compliant with the HIPAA requirements. If you subscribe to Stratford software support on a continuous basis, you will receive the files necessary to comply with this format. There is nothing for you to do. The conversion process will occur automatically the first time you start the program. There are some requirements, of course, but most customers will qualify. You must be able to accept the software on CD or download it from our web site. The hardware requirements have not changed so that should not present a problem for most people. If your Medicare contractor/payer is NHIC or Noridian or you use GatewayEDI for your clearinghouse then you should be up and running in a very short time. At the time this is written (June 2002) we are working with other payers to have our software approved as soon as possible. Since the HIPAA law requires all payers to accept the claims in EXACTLY the same format with no changes allowed, we should have our software approved soon after the payer is ready to test. Question: What will be my cost? Answer: If you have been subscribing to Stratford software support continuously for the past year or since you purchased the license, the only cost will be for media and shipping, usually about $2.00. That's right $2.00. Compare that with any other vendor. Question: How can you possibly make my computer work with the new version for only $2.00? That seems like a ridiculously low amount!! Answer: Good question. The answer is simple. The Stratford program design is more than 25 years old. It has been completely rewritten several times for different hardware and operating systems over those years. We know healthcare billing requirements are continually changing and so we have designed the program to be easy to maintain. We designed and completed coding of the ANSI X.12 version in the summer of 1993. We were approved and have had customers transmitting in the ANSI X.12 transaction sets since April 1994. That is years before most other software vendors. We now support many ANSI versions including 3032, 3040, 3050, 3070 and variations of those versions. For Stratford, version 4010 and 5010 were just newer versions to support. We expect version 4010 to have various modifications and changed specifications and eventually be replaced by v5010 (by 2010?). We are ready. Our customers who subscribe to software support on a continual basis are assured that we will always keep them current at the minimum possible cost. Question: Why do you always qualify 'cost' questions by referring to 'customers who subscribe to software support on a continuing basis?' If I only get files when I need them, say 1 or 2 times per year, why would I not qualify? Answer: We have customers nation wide and we are in constant, daily contact with payers all over the United States. In most cases, we will know about required changes long before they must be implemented. We will have any necessary programming already done and changes available by the time they are required. We are continually updating our internal database with information about our customer's hardware, software and requirements. If you do not subscribe for one or more months, your account is not accessed. Our database is not reliable as a source of information for us to use to support you. We must depend on you to tell us what you need. You may not know anything is required until you have had claims rejected for several months. By then, you may not be able to use the files we have available automatically. It may take some time for us to research what you need, if anything. You could lose the ability to transmit correctly for some unknown period of time. You could lose far more financial and people resources than the cost of software support. Remember, if you prepay 10 months support, you get the 11th and 12th months at no additional charge. Customers who subscribe to software support continuously are our primary concern and we provide necessary services to them before anyone else. Of course, our customers are the primary source of information about payer requirements. We do not transmit or receive claims. We do not have any way to determine what is being transmitted and what is rejected other than what the customer or the payer tells us. Question: I went to a meeting and they gave me a form that I am supposed to have you (my software supplier) fill out. I am going to send it soon. Should I send it to a particular person in your company or address the letter in a certain way? Answer: We have thousands of customers. Our
law firm quoted us a minimum of $2,500 to review a contract with a customer
with no maximum. Obviously you do not want us to pass these costs on to you
so you can understand that it will not be possible to have a separate (unique)
contract with each customer. This web site has a contract patterned from a government
suggested/recommended template which we believe satisfies any needs you have
to comply with HIPAA. Our software was approved by one of the largest Medicare
contractors in the United States in June of 2002. That is NHIC, a wholly owned
company of EDS. NHIC currently distributes Stratford Software to providers in
California and New England. Since the HIPAA law requires all payers to accept
the same format, there should not be a need for us to fill out unique forms
and sign unique contracts for each of our customers. Here are some specifics
in chart form that should help you:
Notes:
Notes:
Regarding Stratford's relationship with its customers, and whether a BA agreement is required, the following was taken from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/privacy.html which is the US Department of Health & Human Services web site. This specific page is dated 12/04/2002 and is titled: Medical Privacy - National Standards to Protect the Privacy of Personal Health InformationOCR Guidance Explaining Significant Aspects of the Privacy Rule - December 4, 2002Business Associates (PDF) (WP) (RTF) Here is an excerpt from the WP version: Q: Is a software vendor a business associate of a covered entity? A: The mere selling or providing of software to a covered entity does not give rise to a business associate relationship if the vendor does not have access to the protected health information of the covered entity. If the vendor does need access to the protected health information of the covered entity in order to provide its service, the vendor would be a business associate of the covered entity. For example, a software company that hosts the software containing patient information on its own server or accesses patient information when troubleshooting the software function, is a business associate of a covered entity. In these examples, a covered entity would be required to enter into a business associate agreement before allowing the software company access to protected health information. However, when an employee of a contractor, like a software or information technology vendor, has his or her primary duty station on-site at a covered entity, the covered entity may choose to treat the employee of the vendor as a member of the covered entity’s workforce, rather than as a business associate. See the definition of “workforce” at 45 CFR 160.103. More Notes:
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Send mail to
webmaster@stratfordsoftware.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
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Send mail to
webmaster@stratfordsoftware.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
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