EHR-S Vendors & LA DMH EDI status

There are a few EHRS vendors in EDI production with DMH LA today, see below. This does not mean that these are the only EDI experienced vendors available to you.

Here are the vendors currently working with DMHLAC's EDI interface today, either in production or queued up to start:

• Accordis (clearinghouse)
• Caminar
• Clinivate
• DeFran
• Echo
• Exym
• Netsmart
• SeginusABC
• Uptime IS

Some of these vendors are developing their EDI interface for the first time with DMHLAC.

EDI transactions are a standard in many businesses to exchange data and especially claims, invoices, and payments. All the vendors that I recommend you consider for an EHRS have some EDI experience in other states (see my Blog on LA/CA vendors to consider), if not yet in LA specifically. Some have tremendous EDI experience with a large claim volume, including Medi-Cal claims.

It is important to note that the current DMHLAC EDI interface is not the standard industry EDI transcation. It is a subset and each vendor must customize their EDI interface for DMHLAC, if you choose to go into production now, pre-IBHIS. The good news is that California DMH has announced that they are now, effective July 1, 2007, only accepting the standard eletronic transactions for SD/MC claims (HIPAA 837 P/I). See DMH LETTER NO: 07-05.

This means that DMHLAC will have to comply with the national standard, and hopefully their new IBHIS will require contract agencies to do the same. In that case your vendor will no longer need to customize their interface for LA.

What you really want to know from your vendor of choice is:

• Do they have EDI experience? With who? How long? Get references.
• Will they agree to customize an EDI interface for you now? Will there be a fee?
• Who will maintain the EDI interface and the change management? Will there be a fee?
• How will they deal with the new IBHIS interface when it is announced? (assume it will be the 837 P/I standard specs) Will there be a fee? They should definitely do the change management of this interface for all their customers.

Here are the vendors and agencies in production with DMHLAC today:

Production

• Children’s Hospital /Exym
• ENKI/Custom in-house
• Hathaway-Sycamores /NetSmart
• Harbor UCLA /Accordis
• Intercommunity Child Guidance Center /Exym and Clinivate
• Kedren/Custom in-house
• Koreatown Youth & Community Center /Exym
• USC Medical Center /Accordis
• Olive View Medical Center /Accordis
• Pacific Clinics /Echo Management
• Pasadena Unified School District/Clinivate
• San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Center/Custom in-house
• San Gabriel Children’s Center /Exym
• SHIELDS for Families /Netsmart
• Tessie Cleveland Community Service /Clinivate
  

and here are the vendors/agencies queued up next:

Certified for Production EDI

• Behavioral Health Services /Clinivate
• Center for Integrated Family Health & Services/Exym
• Children’s Institute/Custom in-house
• Community Family Guidance Center /Exym
• Counseling and Research Associates /Clinivate
• MLK/Medical Center /Accordis
• Portals House /SeginusABC
• Stirling Academy Inc /Clinivate

Testing EDI claims

• Penny LaneCentersVendor/Echo Management

Test Digital Certificate Issued

• Associated League of Mexican Americans /Exym
• Didi Hirsch Psychiatric Services/Custom in-house
• D’Veal Family & Youth Services /Clinivate
• Ettie Lee Youth & Family Services/TBD
• Gateways Hospitals & MHC /Uptime IS
• National Mental Health Association /Caminar
• Stars Behavioral Health /Defran Systems
• South Central Health & Rehab (SCHARP) /Clinivate

by Keely McGeehan, Sahara Management Solutions, Inc.