Section 3: TMHP Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership (TMHP) encourage providers to submit claims using electronic methods. Providers can participate in the most efficient and effective method of submitting requests to TMHP by submitting through the TMHP EDI Gateway. TMHP uses the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant American National Standards Institute (ANSI) ASC X12 5010 file format through secure socket layer (SSL) and virtual private networking (VPN) connections for maximum security. Providers can access TMHP’s electronic services through the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com, TexMedConnect, vendor software, and third party billing agents. Providers may also submit claims using paper forms.
3.1.1Advantages of Electronic Services
•It’s fast. No more waiting by the mailbox or telephone inquiries; know what’s happening to claims in less than 24 hours and receive reimbursement for approved claims within a week. TexMedConnect users can submit individual requests interactively and receive a response immediately.
•It’s free. All electronic services offered by TMHP are free, including TexMedConnect and its technical support and training.
•It’s easy. TMHP offers computer-based training (CBT) for TexMedConnect, Medicaid billing, and many other topics, including those for the Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Services Program, and Long Term Care, as well as a large library of reference materials and manuals on www.tmhp.com.
•It’s safe. TMHP EDI services use VPN and SSL connections, just like the United States government, banks, and other financial institutions, for maximum security.
•It’s accurate. TexMedConnect and most vendor software programs have features that let providers know when they’ve made a mistake, which means fewer rejected and denied claims. Rejected claims are returned with messages that explain what’s wrong, so the claim can be corrected and resubmitted right away. Denied claims appear on the provider’s Remittance and Status (R&S) Report along with paid and pending claims.
•It’s there when it’s needed. Electronic services are available day and night; from home, the office, or anywhere in the world.
•It makes record keeping and research easy. Not only can TexMedConnect be used to send and receive claims, it can check client eligibility, retrieve Electronic Remittance and Status (ER&S) Reports, perform claim status inquiries, and archive claims. TexMedConnect can generate and print reports on everything it sends, receives, and archives.
3.1.2Electronic Services Available
•Eligibility verification
•Claims submission
•Claim status inquiry (CSI)
•ER&S Reports
•Appeals (also known as correction and resubmission)
3.1.3Paper Remittance and Status (R&S) Reports No Longer Available
TMHP no longer produces or distributes paper R&S Reports. This initiative saves the state of Texas the cost of printing and mailing Paper R&S Reports.
All R&S Reports are now available online through the secure portion of the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com. Providers who receive an ER&S Report with third party software are not affected by this change.
Online R&S Reports are available as a portable document format (PDF) file every Monday morning—four days earlier than paper R&S Reports were available. Providers must have a provider administrator account on the TMHP website to receive R&S Reports. Providers who do not have a provider administrator account should create one to avoid delays or interruptions to business processes.
Providers can follow the instructions in the TMHP Portal Security Training Guide to setup a provider administrator account.
Providers who want to transition from paper billing to electronic billing must decide how they will submit their claims to TMHP. Providers can use TexMedConnect on the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com, vendor software that submits files directly to TMHP, or they may use a third party billing agent (e.g., billing companies and clearinghouses) who submit files on the provider’s behalf.
TexMedConnect is a free, web-based, claims submission application provided by TMHP. Technical support and training for TexMedConnect are also available free from TMHP. Providers can submit claims, eligibility requests, claim status inquiries, appeals, and download ER&S Reports (in either PDF or ANSI 835 formats) using TexMedConnect. TexMedConnect can interactively submit individual claims that are processed in seconds. To use TexMedConnect, providers must have:
•An internet service provider (ISP)
•Microsoft® Internet Explorer®
•Google Chrome®
•Mozilla Firefox®
A broadband connection is recommended but not required. Providers that use TexMedConnect can find the online TexMedConnect manuals for Acute Care and Long Term Care on the TexMedConnect Info web page in the EDI section of the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com/resources/texmedconnect.
Providers that do not use TexMedConnect must use vendor software to create, submit, and retrieve data files. Providers can use software from any vendor listed on the EDI Vendor Testing List, which is located in the EDI section of the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com. There are hundreds of software vendors that have a wide assortment of services and that have been approved to submit electronic files to TMHP. Providers that plan to access TMHP’s electronic services with vendor software should contact the vendor for details on software requirements. TMHP does not make vendor recommendations or provide any assistance for vendor software. Not all vendor software offers the same features or levels of support. Providers are encouraged to research their software thoroughly to make certain that it meets their needs and that it has completed testing and has been certified with TMHP.
3.2.3Third Party Billing Agents
Billing agents are companies or individuals who submit electronic files to TMHP on behalf of the provider. Generally, this means that the provider uses a product that sends billing or other information to the billing agent who processes it and transmits it to TMHP and other institutions. A complete list of billing agents who have completed the testing process and been certified by TMHP can be found on the EDI Vendor Testing List, which is located in the EDI section of the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com. TMHP does not make billing agent recommendations or provide any assistance for billing agents’ software or services. TMHP has no information on the software or other requirements of billing agents. Providers should contact the billing agent to obtain information about their products and processes.
Providers must setup their software or billing agent services to access the TMHP EDI Gateway. Providers who use billing agents or software vendors should contact those organizations for information about installation, settings, maintenance, and their processes and procedures for exchanging electronic data.
Providers that download the ANSI 835 file through TexMedConnect and providers that use vendor software must request a submitter ID. A submitter ID is necessary for vendor software to access TMHP’s electronic services. It serves as an electronic mailbox for the provider and TMHP to exchange data files. To order a submitter ID, providers must call the EDI Help Desk at 1-888-863-3638, Option 3. Providers that use a billing agent do not need a submitter ID.
Providers may receive an ER&S Report by completing the Electronic Remittance and Status (ER&S) Agreement and submitting it to the EDI Help Desk after setting up access to the TMHP EDI Gateway.
Refer to: Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) Agreement on the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com.
Providers should contact the TMHP Contact Center at 1-800-925-9126 for billing and training questions. Information about training opportunities is available in the Provider Education section of the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com. Providers may also use the many reference materials and workbooks available on the website. The TMHP EDI Help Desk provides technical assistance and does not provide training.
3.5Electronic Transmission Reports
Providers are required to retain all claim and electronic file transmission records. Providers must verify that all claims submitted to TMHP are received and accepted. Providers must also track claims submissions against their claims payments to detect and correct all claim errors.
Refer to: Subsection 1.7.3, “Retention of Records and Access to Records and Premises” in “Section 1: Provider Enrollment and Responsibilities” (Vol. 1, General Information) for more information about provider responsibility and electronic submissions.
If an electronic file transmission record is missing, providers can request that the transmission report file be reset by contacting the TMHP EDI Help Desk at 1-888-863-3638, Option 3. The TMHP EDI Help Desk will then reset the files for the production submitter ID provided. Requests for transmission reports produced in the previous 30 days will be provided at no cost to providers. Requests for transmission reports produced more than 30 days before the request will result in a charge of $500 plus 8.25 percent sales tax of $41.25 for a total charge of $541.25. Providers that hold a tax-exempt certificate will not be assessed the sales tax. This cost is per transmission report.
3.6Provider Check Amounts Available Online
Acute care providers can search, view, and print on the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com all payment amounts issued during the previous year.
The features of the online check amount include:
•The ability to search information up to one year before the date of the search.
•All results are displayed on a single screen.
•All results can be printed on a single report.
•The 52 weeks of reimbursement payment information includes the:
•Payment date
•Payee name
•Payment amount
•Program for which payment was issued
•Hold amount
•Payment status
Providers must have or must create an administrative account to view their payment amounts online. Providers can then grant “View Payment Amounts” security permission to the office staff of their choice. Providers can access their check amounts by logging into their accounts from the TMHP website and then pressing View Payment Amounts.
Provider check amounts are also available through the automated inquiry system (AIS) telephone line and ER&S Reports.
3.7Third Party Vendor Implementation
TMHP requires all software vendors and billing agents to complete EDI testing before access to the production server is allowed. Vendors that wish to begin testing may either call the EDI Help Desk at 1-888-863-3638, Option 3, or visit the Edifecs testing site at editesting.tmhp.com and use the TMHP Support link. An Edifecs account will be created for the vendor to begin testing EDI formats once they have enrolled for testing. After the successful completion of Edifecs testing and the submission of a Trading Partner Agreement, vendors must then complete end-to-end testing on the TMHP test server. Software vendors and billing agents must be partnered with at least one Texas provider before a test submitter ID can be issued. When end-to-end testing has been completed, the software vendor or billing agent will be added to the EDI Submitter List. Providers and billing agents may then order production submitter IDs for use with the vendor’s software. Companion guides and vendor specifications are available on the EDI page of the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com.
3.7.1Automated Maintenance Process for All Electronic Submitters
All submitter folders have a maximum limit of 7500 files, and no files can be more than 30 days old. Files that exceed these limits will be purged by TMHP on a daily basis. Providers should review, retrieve, and backup their electronic response files within 30 days. Files not retrieved within the 30-day time period or files that exceed a maximum file count of 7500 will be purged by TMHP. All electronic submitters are responsible for the maintenance of their submitter folders. Files that are submitted using EDI version 5010 are limited to a maximum of 5,000 transactions per file. Files that have more than 5,000 transactions will be rejected.
Requests for transmission reports produced after the 30-day period, or resulting from a purge of over 7500 files will require fees, as outlined in Subsection 3.5, “Electronic Transmission Reports” in this section.
TMHP EDI supports the following electronic HIPAA-compliant ANSI ASC X12 5010 transaction types:
Electronic Transaction Types | |
|---|---|
270 | Eligibility request |
271 | Eligibility response |
276 | Claim status inquiry |
277 | Claim status inquiry response |
835 | ER&S Report |
837D | Dental claims |
837I | Institutional claims |
837P | Professional claims |
Note:Dental providers who submit American National Standards Institute, Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ANSI ASC X12N) 837D transactions through the TMHP Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) are required to include the header date of service (HDOS) to comply with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) claims processing guidelines.
The following linked forms can also be found on the Forms page of the Provider section of the TMHP website at www.tmhp.com: