The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the creation of a new Health Information Handler (HIH) program that is intended to help providers exchange electronic health information with CMS through the agency’s Electronic Submission of Medical Documentation (esMD). 

CMS’ esMD allows: 

• Providers and suppliers to electronically submit medical documentation requested by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for improper payment review and requests for prior authorization. 
• Review contractors (RCs) to submit Additional Document Requests (ADRs) to providers electronically. 
• RCs to exchange solicited documents with other CMS adjudicators electronically. 

The HIH free program will help providers and other organizations interested in exchanging medical documentation such as portable document format (PDF) or extensible markup language (XML) documents through the CMS Electronic Submission of Medical Documentation (esMD). Using the CMS HIH will allow for the processing of all esMD lines of business such as Prior Authorization (PA) requests and Additional Document Requests (ADR) responses. 

ADVOCATE will share additional information with clients and friends as it becomes available on this and other Federal Health Policies.  

 

Kirk Reinitz, President