CMS updates: ICD-10 Reminder: Participate in Final ICD-10 Acknowledgement Testing Week: June 1 through 5

News Updates | June 3, 2015

Participate in Final ICD-10 Acknowledgement Testing Week: June 1 through 5

To help you prepare for the transition to ICD-10, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offers acknowledgement testing for current direct submitters (providers and clearinghouses) to test with the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) MAC Common Electronic Data Interchange (CEDI) contractor anytime up to the October 1, 2015, implementation date.
CMS previously conducted three successful acknowledgement testing weeks in March 2014, November 2014, and March 2015. These acknowledgement testing weeks give submitters access to real-time help desk support and allow CMS to analyze testing data. Participate in the final acknowledgement testing week from June 1 through 5, 2015.
Note: MLN Matters® Special Edition Article SE1501 explains the differences between acknowledgement and end-to-end testing with Medicare. For acknowledgement testing, all electronic submitters are encouraged to participate, even if you submit claims through a clearinghouse.
How to participate:
Information is available on your MAC website or through your clearinghouse (if you use a clearinghouse to submit claims to Medicare). Any provider who submits claims electronically can participate in acknowledgement testing.
What you can expect during testing:

Test claims will receive the 277CA or 999 acknowledgement as appropriate, to confirm that the claim was accepted or rejected in the system
Test claims will be subject to all current front-end edits, including edits for valid National Provider Identifiers (NPIs), Provider Transaction Access Numbers (PTANs), and codes, including Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) and place of service
Testing will not confirm claim payment or produce a Remittance Advice (RA)
MACs and CEDI will be staffed to handle increased call volume during this week

Testing tips:

Make sure test files have the "T" in the ISA15 field to indicate the file is a test file
Send ICD-10 coded test claims that closely resemble the claims that you currently submit
Use valid submitter ID, NPI, and PTAN combinations
Use current dates of service on test claims (i.e. October 1, 2014, through June 1, 2015)
Do not use future dates of service or your claim will be rejected

For more information:

MLN Matters Article MM8858, “ICD-10 Testing - Acknowledgement Testing with Providers”
MLN Matters Special Edition Article SE1409, “Medicare FFS ICD-10 Testing Approach”

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