Initiative Value Statement
The value of the esMD Initiative will be to provide consensus-based use cases, functional requirements, standards and implementation specifications representing combined input from a broad range of stakeholders, including CMS, commercial payers, providers, and vendors. This will promote a nationally standardized approach to medical document request letters, claims attachments, and the proof of authorship of medical documentation.
The outputs of this initiative will ultimately be implemented by CMS, in the implementations of esMD Phase 2, 3 and other future releases. CMS implementations stemming from this initiative will also test provider directories and consolidated CDA solutions in a real world setting. It is intended that the outputs and implementations of this Initiative could be reused outside of CMS, such as within the Payer community. This initiative also benefits national interoperability by expanding the health IT infrastructure to incorporate and validate signatures as part of structured documents.
Both payers and providers will benefit from this Initiative’s implementation of electronic medical document request letters and claims attachments. Some of the benefits of replacing the current paper process with an electronic option include:
- Saving time, money and resources for CMS/Payers and Providers
- Eliminates print/mail operations required for sending or processing medical documentation request letters
- Eliminates need for postage costs
- Increases the accuracy of the information requested and received
- Improved receipt time for both providers and payers
- Improved timeliness results in improved accounts receivable cycle for provider, so payments are received sooner
- Reduced staff time spent handling paper