The Connected Physician
e-Frontier News

Ken Terry
Dec. 18, 2000, Nov. 30 & Dec. 4th issues
URL: http ://www.medicaleconomics.com

Thousands of Boston-area physicians now have access to New England Healthcare EDI Network, a Web-based transaction system connecting them with their major payers. NEHEN's sponsors include such provider groups and payers as Boston Medical Center, CareGroup Healthcare System, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Lifespan, Partner's HealthCare System, Tufts Health Plan, and UMass Memorial Health Care.

Waltham, MA-based athena health.com, which automates physician office workflow online, and Boston-based NaviMedix, an independent connectivity vendor, have recently joined NEHEN to provide access for physicians who are unaffiliated with any of the sponsoring provider organizations.

NEHEN is handling 250,000 eligibility queries per month, up from 50,000 a month last year, according to Sira Cormier, program manager for CSC, a consultancy firm that's running NEHEN. Not long ago, the system started doing referral transactions with Tufts Health Plan, and Harvard Pilgrim recently became the first NEHEN plan to accept claims status queries over the network, says Cormier.

Ken Terry. e-Frontier News. Medical Economics 2000;23.
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