| The DHS is excited to bring the
ForwardHealth Portal
to the Wisconsin provider community as it allows providers, trading partners,
and managed care organizations (MCOs) greater access to, and improved services
from, ForwardHealth. In June 2008, the State of Wisconsin Department of Health
Services began implementing various functionality on the new ForwardHealth
Portal. The Portal is not fully functional at this point; however, trading
partners, MCOs, providers, and partners will be directed to the Portal to
perform specific functions in order to ensure readiness for the October
implementation. Important Reminder for
Trading Partners and Providers:
Prior to the implementation of ForwardHealth
interChange, all Trading Partners1 must successfully complete
authorization testing for all electronic transactions that they submit on
behalf of themselves or the providers they serve.
If you are a trading partner and you have not completed
your authorization testing you are strongly encouraged to complete this
testing as soon as possible. It is critical that this testing be completed
in order to ensure that there will be no delays to business processes or
payments with the implementation of the new system.
If you are a provider that uses a trading partner to do
your billing, or if you act as your own trading partner, you are strongly
encouraged to contact your trading partner, or internal billing department,
to ensure they have completed their authorization testing.
Trading partners who have not successfully completed
authorization testing before the implementation of ForwardHealth interChange
will not be able to submit transactions to the new ForwardHealth interChange
system upon implementation.
1A trading partner is
defined as a covered entity that exchanges electronic health care
transactions as mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996. Therefore, the following covered entities are
considered trading partners:
- Billing providers who exchange electronic
transactions directly with the DHS.
- Billing services and clearinghouses that exchange
electronic transactions directly with the DHS on behalf of a billing
provider.
Legacy New Trading Partner Deadline
Effective October 11, 2008: In preparation for
the implementation of ForwardHealth interChange, the State of Wisconsin will
no longer accept new trading partners into the current MMIS. New Trading
Partners are encouraged to sign-up in the new ForwardHealth interChange
system by completing a Trading Partner Profile and conducting authorization
testing at
www.forwardhealth.wi.gov. Contact the EDI Helpdesk with any questions.
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