ZirMed®, the national provider partner used by Harmony Healthcare IT for revenue cycle management solutions, has announced that it is inviting healthcare practices to begin “early adopter” testing of transactions under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) new HIPAA Version 5010 rules. The announcement comes six months ahead of the mandated January 1, 2011 deadline for testing commencement, and allows the company to devote increased resources toward meeting the industry’s second rules obligation, ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision). Transaction testing is a major component of the HIPAA 5010 electronic transaction standards. The standards, which will take effect January 1, 2012, are the first major upgrade to the original HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) privacy legislation standards since they were passed into law in 1996. “ZirMed has been and continues to lead the industry as an early adopter in implementing the HIPAA 5010 standards,” said Doug Fielding, ZirMed’s Chief Product Development Officer. “We are highly involved with standards-setting organizations such as WEDI and X12, and have been in system development since early last year. This announcement is a further demonstration of our commitment to helping our healthcare partners meet their obligations well in advance of January 1, 2012.” Practices that begin testing this summer will be able to initiate migration to 5010 standards by Q4 of this year. Harmony Healthcare IT hase worked with ZirMed to develop a phased migration program for its clients, under which both current Version 4010A and future 5010 transactions will be accepted by the ZirMed transaction processing system. Testing under the 5010 system is an important step for providers before migration can begin. Healthcare providers who are interested in initiating the testing process can call Harmony Healthcare IT directly at 1-800-781-1044, Ext. 113.