American College of Cardiology

April 14, 2003: PRIVACY regulation compliance date for covered entities (other than small health plans). There are currently proposed modifications to the Privacy rule, however, these modifications will NOT change the effective date.

April 16, 2003: Covered Entities who submitted an extension form for ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION AND CODE SETS are required to begin their testing phase no later than this date.

October 16, 2003: ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION AND CODE SET regulation compliance date for covered entities who applied for the extension and small health plans.

October 16, 2003: Date that Medicare will no longer accept PAPER claims from Medicare providers who do not qualify for one of the following waivers:

1. you are a "small provider of services or supplies"
2. there is no method available for the submission of claims in electronic form
3. you are a beneficiary submitting claims on your behalf
4. you are small health plan