Virginia Law

A. Applicability.

1. This section outlines the exclusive process for the initial exchange of electronic medical bill and related payment processing data for professional, institutional or hospital, pharmacy, and dental services provided to injured workers in accordance with § 65.2-603 of the Code of Virginia.

2. Unless exempted from this process in accordance with subdivision B 2 of this section, payers or their agents shall:

a. Accept electronic medical bills submitted in accordance with the adopted standards;

b. Transmit acknowledgments and remittance advice in compliance with the adopted standards in response to electronically submitted medical bills; and

c. Support methods to receive electronic documentation required for the adjudication of a bill, as described in 16VAC30-16-80.

3. Unless exempted from this process in accordance with subdivision B 1 of this section, a health care provider shall:

a. Implement a software system capable of exchanging medical bill data in accordance with the adopted standards or contract with a clearinghouse to exchange its medical bill data;

b. Submit medical bills as provided in 16VAC30-16-30 A 1 to any payers that have established connectivity to the health care provider's system or clearinghouse;

c. Submit required documentation in accordance with subsection E of this section; and

d. Receive and process any acceptance or rejection acknowledgment from the payer.

4. Payers shall be able to exchange electronic data by July 1, 2019, unless exempted from the process in accordance with subdivision B 2 of this section.

5. Health care providers or their agents shall be able to exchange electronic data by July 1, 2019, unless exempted from the process in accordance with subdivision B 1 of this section.

B. Exemptions.

1. A health care provider is exempt from the requirement to submit medical bills electronically to a payer if:

a. The health care provider employs 15 or fewer full-time employees; or

b. The health care provider submitted fewer than 250 medical bills for workers' compensation treatment, services, or products in the previous calendar year.

2. A payer is exempt from the requirements to receive and pay medical bills electronically if the payer processed fewer than 250 medical bills for workers' compensation treatment, services, or products in the previous calendar year.

C. Complete electronic medical bill. To be considered a complete electronic medical bill, the bill or supporting transmissions shall:

1. Be submitted in the correct billing format;

2. Be transmitted in compliance with the format requirements described in 16VAC30-16-30;

3. Include in legible text all supporting documentation for the bill, including medical reports and records, evaluation reports, narrative reports, assessment reports, progress reports, progress notes, clinical notes, hospital records, and diagnostic test results that are expressly required by law or can reasonably be expected by the payer or its agent under the laws of Virginia;

4. Identify the following:

a. Injured employee;

b. Employer;

c. Insurance carrier, third-party administrator, managed care organization, or payer agent;

d. Health care provider;

e. Medical service or product; and

f. Any other requirements as presented in the Companion Guide; and

5. Use current and valid codes and values as defined in the applicable formats referenced in this chapter and the Companion Guide.

D. Acknowledgment.

1. An Interchange Acknowledgment (ASC X12 TA1) notifies the sender of the receipt of, and certain structural defects associated with, an incoming transaction.

2. An Implementation Acknowledgment (ASC X12 999) transaction is an electronic notification to the sender of the file that it has been received and has been:

a. Accepted as a complete and structurally correct file; or

b. Rejected with a valid rejection error code.

3. A Health Care Claim Acknowledgment (ASC X12 277CA) is an electronic acknowledgment to the sender of an electronic transaction that the transaction has been received and has been:

a. Accepted as a complete, correct submission; or

b. Rejected with a valid rejection error code.

4. A payer shall acknowledge receipt of an electronic medical bill by returning an Implementation Acknowledgment (ASC X12 999) within one business day of receipt of the electronic submission.

a. Notification of a rejected bill is transmitted using the appropriate acknowledgment when an electronic medical bill does not meet the definition of a complete electronic medical bill as described in subsection C of this section or does not meet the edits defined in the applicable implementation guide.

b. A health care provider or its agent shall not submit a duplicate electronic medical bill earlier than 60 calendar days from the date originally submitted if a payer has acknowledged acceptance of the original complete electronic medical bill. A health care provider or its agent may submit a corrected medical bill electronically to the payer after receiving notification of a rejection. The corrected medical bill is submitted as a new, original bill.

5. A payer shall acknowledge receipt of an electronic medical bill by returning a Health Care Claim Acknowledgment (ASC X12 277CA) transaction (detail acknowledgment) within two business days of receipt of the electronic submission.

a. Notification of a rejected bill is transmitted in an ASC X12N 277CA response or acknowledgment when an electronic medical bill does not meet the definition of a complete electronic medical bill or does not meet the edits defined in the applicable implementation guide.

b. A health care provider or its agent shall not submit a duplicate electronic medical bill earlier than 60 calendar days from the date originally submitted if a payer has acknowledged acceptance of the original complete electronic medical bill. A health care provider or its agent may submit a corrected medical bill electronically to the payer after receiving notification of a rejection. The corrected medical bill is submitted as a new, original bill.

6. Acceptance of a complete medical bill is not an admission of liability by the payer. A payer may subsequently reject an accepted electronic medical bill if the employer or other responsible party named on the medical bill is not legally liable for its payment.

a. The rejection is transmitted by means of a Health Care Claim Payment/Advice ASC X12 835 transaction.

b. The subsequent rejection of a previously accepted electronic medical bill shall occur no later than 45 calendar days from the date of receipt of the complete electronic medical bill.

c. The transaction to reject the previously accepted complete medical bill shall clearly indicate that the reason for rejection is that the payer is not legally liable for its payment.

7. Acceptance of a complete or incomplete medical bill does not satisfy the written notice of injury requirement from an employee or payer as required by §§ 65.2-600 and 65.2-900 of the Code of Virginia.

8. Transmission of an Implementation Acknowledgment under subdivision D 2 of this section and acceptance of a complete, structurally correct file serves as proof of the received date for an electronic medical bill in subsection C of this section.

E. Electronic documentation.

1. Electronic documentation, including medical reports and records submitted electronically that support an electronic medical bill, may be required by the payer before payment may be remitted to the health care provider in accordance with this chapter.

2. Complete electronic documentation shall be submitted by secure fax, secure encrypted electronic mail, or in a secure electronic format as described in 16VAC30-16-30.

3. The electronic transmittal, by secure fax, secure encrypted electronic mail, or any other secure electronic format, shall prominently contain the following details on its cover sheet or first page of the transmittal:

a. The name of the injured employee;

b. Identification of the worker's employer, the employer's insurance carrier, or the third-party administrator or its agent handling the workers' compensation claim;

c. Identification of the health care provider billing for services to the injured worker, and where applicable, its agent;

d. Dates of service;

e. The workers' compensation claim number assigned by the payer if established by the payer; and

f. The unique attachment indicator number.

F. Electronic remittance advice and electronic funds transfer.

1. An electronic remittance advice (ERA) is an explanation of benefits (EOB) or explanation of review (EOR), submitted electronically, regarding payment or denial of a medical bill, recoupment request, or receipt of a refund.

2. The ERA shall contain the appropriate Claim Adjustment Group Codes, Claim Adjustment Reason Codes, and associated Remittance Advice Remark Codes as specified in the Code Value Usage in Health Care Claim Payments and Subsequent Claims Technical Report Type 2 (TR2) Workers' Compensation Code Usage Section and for pharmacy charges, the National Council for Prescription Drugs Program (NCPDP) Reject/Payment Codes, denoting the reason for payment, adjustment, or denial. Instructions for the use of the ERA and code sets are found in section 7.5 of the Companion Guide.

3. The ERA shall be sent before five business days of:

a. The expected date of receipt by the health care provider of payment from the payer, or

b. The date the bill was rejected by the payer.

4. All payments for services that have been billed electronically in accordance with this chapter are required to be paid via electronic funds transfer unless an alternate method is agreed upon by the payer and health care provider.

G. Requirements for health care providers exempted from electronic billing. Health care providers exempted from electronic medical billing pursuant to subdivision B 1 of this section shall submit paper medical bills for payment in the following formats as applicable:

1. On the current standard forms used by CMS, which are available online at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/CMS-Forms/CMS-Forms/index.html.

2. On the current NCPDP Workers' Compensation/Property and Casualty Universal Claim Form (WC/PC UCF), which are available online at http://www.ncpdp.org/Products/Universal-Claim-Forms.

3. On the current American Dental Association Claim Form, which is available online at https://www.ada.org/en/publications/cdt/ada-dental-claim-form.

All information submitted on required paper billing forms under this subsection shall be legible and accurately completed.

H. Resubmissions. A health care provider or its agent shall not submit a duplicate paper medical bill earlier than 30 business days from the date originally submitted unless the payer has rejected the medical bill as incomplete in accordance with 16VAC30-16-60. A health care provider or its agent may submit a corrected paper medical bill to the payer after receiving notification of the rejection of an incomplete medical bill. The corrected medical bill is submitted as a new, original bill.

I. Connectivity. Unless the payer or its agent is exempted from the electronic medical billing process in accordance with subdivision B 2 of this section, it should attempt to establish connectivity through a trading partner agreement with any clearinghouse that requests the exchange of data in accordance with 16VAC30-16-30.

J. Fees. No party to the electronic transactions shall charge excessive fees of any other party in the transaction. A payer or clearinghouse that requests another payer or clearinghouse to receive, process, or transmit a standard transaction shall not charge fees or costs in excess of the fees or costs for normal telecommunications that the requesting entity incurs when it directly transmits or receives a standard transaction.

K. A health care provider agent may charge reasonable fees related to data translation, data mapping, and similar data functions when the health care provider is not capable of submitting a standard transaction. In addition, a health care provider agent may charge a reasonable fee related to:

1. Transaction management of standard transactions, such as editing, validation, transaction tracking, management reports, portal services, and connectivity; and

2. Other value added services, such as electronic file transfers related to medical documentation.

L. A payer or its agent shall not reject a standard electronic transaction on the basis that it contains data elements not needed or used by the payer or its agent or that the electronic transaction includes data elements that exceed those required for a complete bill as enumerated in subsection C of this section.

M. A health care provider that has not implemented a software system capable of sending standard transactions is required to use a secure online direct data entry system offered by a payer if the payer does not charge a transaction fee. A health care provider using an online direct data entry system offered by a payer or other entity shall use the appropriate data content and data condition requirements of the standard transactions.