WASHINGTON, DC. January 15, 2004. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a preliminary report on the commercial use of ABC codes and industry perceptions of the cost-benefit of these ABC codes in HIPAA transactions. The report was submitted to the Office of HIPAA Compliance at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under an agreement between CMS and Alternative Link. Alternative Link developed ABC codes for integrative healthcare to fill gaps in older medical coding systems and the national health information infrastructure. The agreement, established in January 2003, called for quarterly reports on the cost-benefit of ABC codes in electronic commerce, to help HHS evaluate ABC codes as a proposed modification to the HIPAA standards. ABC codes may be used by anyone for research, management and manual commerce applications, but their use in electronic commerce is regulated under HIPAA and allowable for formally registered entities and their trading partners.

For a copy of the HHS letter that authorized the commercial use and cost-benefit evaluation of ABC codes in HIPAA transactions, please click here.

For a CMS letter that clarifies how ABC codes may be used commercially in HIPAA transactions, please click here.

For a copy of the preliminary report to the Office of HIPAA compliance, please click here.