THE VALUED VOICE

Health care has evolved tremendously over the past three decades; however, many sections in Chapter 153 of the statute were very outdated and had not been updated until recently. In April of 2015, Act 287—the Wisconsin Health Care Data Modernization Act was passed. The Act removed outdated provisions and included an opportunity to bring Chapter 153 into greater alignment with the national ANSI 837 standard. 

The WHA Infomation Center (WHAIC) thanks you, your staff, and your vendors for your diligence and patience. WHAIC staff worked tirelessly over the past two years to assist your hospitals and vendors to make the transition to the new 837 claims file format a success. 

As of first quarter 2018, WHAIC has collected all hospital and ASC data in the new ANSI 837 standard. The first quarter data sets were released to include one of the new data elements; census block detail. Census block allows a much more detailed analysis, by location. The graphic o the right is an example…this is greater Milwaukee and shows the improved level of granular analysis that can be done using census block information vs. only getting down to the zip code level.  

We are in the process of reviewing additional data elements as part of the 837 claims file submission. These new data elements will continue to be reviewed until we can evaluate consistency in reporting and data trending over several quarters. 

WHAIC continues to look forward to improving the data you use and have come to know as the leading source of respected data.