AGENCY ACTION ALERT FOR SEPT. 30, 2015

This week's Agency Action Alert covers the following topics:

IRS coverage reporting forms available
Highmark to transition to ICD-10 medical coding on Oct. 1, 2015
Producers and clients should update browsers if using Internet Explorer 8

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GROUP UPDATE

IRS coverage reporting forms available

The IRS finalized its coverage reporting forms for calendar year 2015, for groups with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees). The forms are written to comply with the regulations the IRS described in Notice 2015-68 and other guidance set forth in that notice.

Employers subject to section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code, generally meaning employers with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) in the preceding calendar year, should use the following forms to report the information required under Code sections 6055 and 6056 about offers of health coverage and enrollment in health coverage for their employees.

Form 1094-C

Form 1094-C must be used to report to the IRS summary information for each employer and to transmit Forms 1095-C to the IRS.

Form 1095-C

Form 1095-C is used to report information about each employee. An "Applicable Large Employer" (ALE) member must file Form 1095-C for each employee who was a full-time employee of the ALE member for any month of the calendar year.

For more information, read the IRS instructions for these forms.

HIGHMARK UPDATE

Highmark to transition to ICD-10 medical coding on Oct. 1, 2015

Per the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), ICD-10 medical coding will be implemented on Thursday, Oct. 1.

Clients and members should not see any difference in treatment or policy coverage due to ICD-10.

ICD-10 stands for International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, and it is a medical classification list created by the World Health Organization. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requires that all health care providers and organizations, including Highmark, use International Classification of Diseases' diagnosis and procedure codes.

Talking points have been created to provide an overview of ICD-10, including what it is, how it works and how Highmark worked with providers to make this change as smooth as possible. You can also visit the CMS ICD-10 webpage for more information.

Please contact your Highmark Client Manager if you have any additional questions.

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Producers and clients should update browsers if using Internet Explorer 8

For the best experience using all of our website tools and applications, producers, clients and members should all upgrade their browsers if they are currently using Internet Explorer 8 (IE8). This is especially important for next year, as not all systems will support IE8 after January.

To upgrade, just type in your browser's search field "upgrade IE" and look for instructions from Microsoft.