The EDI 837 transaction set is the format established to meet HIPAA requirements for the electronic submission of healthcare claim information. The claim information included amounts to the following, for a single care encounter between patient and provider:
- A description of the patient
- The patient’s condition for which treatment was provided
- The services provided
- The cost of the treatment
As of March 31, 2012, healthcare providers must be compliant with version 5010 of the HIPAA EDI standards. The 5010 standards divide the 837 transaction set into three groups, as follows:
837P for professionals, 837I for institutions and 837D for dental practices. The 837 is no longer used by retail pharmacies.
This transaction set is sent by the providers to payers, which include insurance companies, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs), or government agencies such as Medicare, Medicaid, etc. These transactions may be sent either directly or indirectly via clearinghouses. Health insurers and other payers send their payments and coordination of benefits information back to providers via the
EDI 835 transaction set.
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EDI 837 Specification
This X12 Transaction Set contains the format and establishes the data contents of the Healthcare Claim Transaction Set (837) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. This transaction set can be used to submit healthcare medical claims, billing information, encounter information, or both, from providers of healthcare services to payers, either directly or via intermediary billers and claims clearinghouses. It can also be used to transmit healthcare claims and billing payment information between payers with different payment responsibilities where coordination of benefits is required or between payers and regulatory agencies to monitor the rendering, billing, and/or payment of healthcare services within a specific healthcare/insurance industry segment.
For purposes of this standard, providers of healthcare products or services may include entities such as physicians, hospitals and other medical facilities or suppliers, dentists, and pharmacies, and entities providing medical information to meet regulatory requirements. The payer refers to a third party entity that pays claims or administers the insurance product or benefit or both. For example, a payer may be an insurance company, health maintenance organization (HMO), preferred provider organization (PPO), government agency (Medicare, Medicaid, Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS), etc.) or an entity such as a third party administrator (TPA) or third party organization (TPO) that may be contracted by one of those groups. A regulatory agency is an entity responsible, by law or rule, for administering and monitoring a statutory benefits program or a specific healthcare/insurance industry segment.
