WASHINGTON DC USA -- HIT/HIPAA UPDATE NEWS SERVICE (TM) -- APRIL 28, 2006: WEDI has again secured additional guest rooms at the Harbor Court Hotel, just a short walk from the 15th Annual WEDI National Conference. Call 410-347-9700, or 800-824-0076, and request the WEDI discounted rate of $239/night. Make your reservations today to guarantee availability.

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore on the Inner Harbor, the event host hotel, has a few rooms remaining for the nights of 5/21 and 5/23, at a WEDI group rate of $195. Call 410-528-1234, or 800-233-1234 by April 30, and request the WEDI rate if you need a room for only one of these nights.

Join industry leaders at the 15th Annual WEDI National Conference, Continuing the Quest: Administrative and Clinical Integration and Interoperability. This year’s conference will be held May 22-25, 2006, at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore on the Inner Harbor. The conference will kick off with two concurrent pre-conference events on Monday, May 22. One will be an NPIOI Industry Forum, and the second a Health IT Certification Preconference. The event will conclude with a special post-conference session, a CAQH CORE Educational Workshop. Details on these sessions can be found at www.wedi.org/public/articles/dis_viewArticle.cfm?ID=392.

Hear from industry leaders as they provide key information and case studies on issues such as: HIPAA Implementation, including Transactions, NPI, Attachments, Privacy and Security; Interoperability issues, EHRs; and RHIOs.

• National Standards Harmonization Efforts
• ICD-10 Issues Update
• Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: Overview and Initiatives
• Pending Legislation, Regulatory Updates and CMS Activities Update
• Simplifying Administrative Data Exchange, Interoperability at the CORE
• WEDI NPI Hearings Update
• RHIOs and Connected Communities Involved in the ONC NHIN Architecture Prototype Contracts: Clinical Drivers, Technical Approaches, Funding, and Strategies for Sustainability

• Industry Perspectives: Issues with Secondary Coordination of Benefits Claims
• Attachments Early Adopters Forum
• Privacy and Security Challenges to Health Information Exchange
• Who Can See Your Patient Information? Access Issues in an EHR
• A Cross-Eyed View of Remittance: The WEDI/X12 Claims Adjustment Reason Code / Group Code Survey
• NPI and the Granularity Issue: Implementation and Beyond
• Security and Privacy Challenges to the EHR
• MD/DC Collaborative RHIO - Accomplishments and Challenges
• Payer and Trading Partner Identifiers Needed for Interoperability
• Claims Attachments
• Email and Encryption
• Funding RHIO Startup and Financing for Life: Survey of Regional Health Information Organization Financing
• Real-Time Adjudication
• Atypical Providers and Taxonomy Codes: Managing Unexpected NPI Ripple Effects
• How Much is Too Much? Exploring the Privacy Rule’s Intersection of the Minimum Necessary Requirements and the Claims Attachments Transactions
• Harmonizing Terminology and Coding for EHRs

For a more information, including registration information and a current agenda, visit www.wedi.org, or www.wedi.org/public/articles/dis_viewArticle.cfm?ID=392.

Kristin Fetterman
Director of SNIP, Education and Events
WEDI
12020 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 100
Reston, VA 20191
703-391-2714
kfetterman@wedi.org

• 15th Annual WEDI National Conference, May 22-25, 2006, Hyatt Regency Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
• WEDI 2006 Fall Conference, November 6-9, 2006, Hyatt Regency Phoenix at Civic Plaza, Phoenix, AZ