As part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) consolidation of Medicare data center operations, Highmark Medicare Services will transition our Pennsylvania Part A data center operations to a new Enterprise Data Center (EDC) from September 22, 2007 through September 24, 2007.

In order to minimize disruptions during the transition period, Highmark Medicare Services will continue to provide updated communications regarding possible impacts to Medicare Part A providers in the Pennsylvania jurisdiction on our website at http://www.highmarkmedicareservices.com as well as via our listserv. This notice is to alert you to the following EDC transition impact to electronic data interchange (EDI) customers so that you can properly prepare for it.

New Timeline for EDI Report Availability Effective 09/24/2007

Currently, the X12N 997 Functional Acknowledgment and the IG Edit Report are generated and posted to your electronic mailbox approximately one hour after submitting electronic claims using the X12N 837 Institutional Claim transaction, and the reports remain available for five business days.

Effective Monday, September 24, 2007, the timeline for EDI Report availability will change. The X12N 997 Functional Acknowledgment and the IG Edit Report will be generated on a daily basis instead of an hourly basis. Therefore, these reports will be available for retrieval on the business day after the electronic claims are submitted. and the reports remain available for five business days. The availability of all other EDI reports, including ERA, will remain the same.

For example, if electronic claims are submitted at 2 p.m. on Monday, September 24, the 997 Functional Acknowledgment and the IG Edit Report will be available for retrieval on Tuesday, September 25 (instead of after 3 p.m. on September 24).

NOTE: The EDI Platform is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. EDI files submitted after 4 p.m. on any business day are not considered "received" until the next business day. EDI files submitted on a non-business day are not considered "received" until the next business day or as published.

The X12N 997 Functional Acknowledgment verifies that the transmission was received and indicates whether the transmission was accepted or rejected, test or production.

• If the transmission is accepted, the file has successfully passed the initial edits. Your file will be forwarded for secondary editing and the IG Edit Report will be created for you.
• If the transmission is rejected, the errors must be corrected and the entire claim file must be retransmitted. The claims will not be forwarded for secondary editing, but the IG Edit Report will be generated. Your claims will not be processed in FISS.

The IG Edit Report indicates whether your claims have been accepted or rejected for processing consideration.

• If the file/batch/claim is accepted, the file/batch/claim has successfully passed the secondary edits. The file/batch/claims that are accepted will be forwarded to the FISS Medicare processing system for processing and payment consideration.
• If the file/batch/claim is rejected, the file/batch/claim errors must be corrected and resubmitted. Any file/batch/claims that are rejected will not be forwarded to the FISS Medicare processing system for processing or payment consideration.