August 2002: Dental Provisions #19

News Briefs

Regence BlueShield subsidiary to change name
Regence BlueShield's unbranded (non-Blue Shield) subsidiary, Regence Northwest Health, will change its name effective November 1, 2002. The company will be called Asuris Northwest Health (pronounced Assure-iss). We are notifying members and contracted providers this summer.

Reminder: The Regence Group filed for HIPAA extension
An important component of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the regulation standardizing transactions and code sets across the industry. The original compliance date was October 16, 2002, and many of you have asked about our timelines for implementing the requirements. The Regence Group and its affiliates, including Regence BlueShield, have filed for the extension, allowing us additional time to build, test and successfully implement the transactions and code set requirements.

HR 3323 requires that the compliance plan include a testing phase beginning in April 2003. When finalized, we will communicate our testing schedule to dental providers, physicians and facilities so that you, or your vendor or clearinghouse, may test the required transactions with Regence BlueShield.

For additional information on this HIPAA extension, please go to the DHHS Administrative Simplification Web site: http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/index.htm

Children's Dental Health Month
Regence BlueShield is proud to have provided toothbrushes to the Snohomish Dental Society for distribution to children during Children's Dental Health month.

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