MacPractice -- an Apple developer of practice management and clinical software for physicians, dentists, chiropractors, and eye care professionals for Macs, iPhones, and iPads -- has assured all MacPractice clients and prospective users of its preparedness for the new ANSI 5010 EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) format required on Jan. 1, 2012.

MacPractice has been working on behalf of doctors with its medical and dental clearinghouse partners since the end of last year to avoid potential interruption or delay of insurance payments and other EDI transactions such as eligibility verification and Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) due to the change in formats from ANSI 4010A1 to ANSI 5010, scheduled to take place in seven months, says President Mark Hollis. Contrary to what heath care providers have been told, MacPractice users need do nothing to prepare for 5010 now, he adds.

"There is no additional data that the office is required to collect at this time. MacPractice users do not and will not need to test," Hollis says. " On their behalf, MacPractice and its partner clearinghouses are conducting all the testing that should be necessary with individual carriers. MacPractice 4.1 makes it possible for clients who use a lock box or P.O. Box to receive insurance payments to submit successfully. A new requirement of 5010 is that a physical address for the delivery of services be provided in addition to a P.O. Box or lockbox address for payments if applicable."

While MacPractice 4.1 transmits and receives the 5010 format natively, MacPractice's partner clearinghouses will convert 5010 to 40101A as needed during the transition for carriers who cannot send or receive the new format. The major impetus for the required transition to ANSI 5010 on Jan. 1 is to provide a foundation for a future change to ICD-10, now scheduled for Oct. 1, 2013. Dates for ICD-10 implementation have changed several times over the last several years.