Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Office of Medicaid
600 Washington Street
Boston, MA  02111
www.mass.gov/masshealth	
		MassHealth
		All Provider Bulletin 139
		November 2004
		
	TO:	All Providers Participating in MassHealth

	FROM:	Beth Waldman, Medicaid Director

	RE:	Implementation of a HIPAA-Compliant Secure File Delivery Application

New Method for 	Beginning this month, MassHealth will launch Phase I of the Secure File
Receiving the	Delivery Application (SFDA) for non-retail pharmacy transactions.  This new Web
820, 834, 835, and	application is MassHealth’s recommended solution for receiving files instead of
997 Transactions 	compact disks (CDs) or the Bulletin Board System (BBS).

Phase I will allow our trading partners to receive the following HIPAA-compliant transactions via the internet.

•	820 - Payroll Deducted and Other Group Premium Payment for Insurance Products transaction 
•	834 - Benefit Enrollment and Maintenance transaction
•	835 - Health Care Claim Payment/Advice transaction
•	997 - Functional Acknowledgment transaction

Those providers currently receiving the proprietary supplemental electronic remittance advice will be able to retrieve that information via the SFDA as well. 

The SFDA works like an e-mail application.  It provides a fast and secure way for you to receive via the Internet, messages, links to the applicable file downloads, and attachments.  Some of the benefits of this file delivery method include the following.

•	quicker receipt of your files
•	e-mail notification that there is a file available to be picked up
•	reduced manual intervention in the delivery process
•	encryption of all information to ensure security and privacy

Phase II of the rollout of the SFDA application will allow trading partners to submit 837 transaction files to MassHealth via this method.  You will receive more information about Phase II of this initiative in the coming months.  
	
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Secure File Delivery 
Application	
To use the SFDA, you must have all of the following.	
Requirements	•	Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.5 or higher or Netscape
Navigator version 4.7.9 or 6.2.2
•	a signed Trading Partner Agreement on file with MassHealth
•	a valid e-mail address for a functional mailbox  (A functional mailbox is an 
e-mail address that is not tied to a specific individual. For example, securefile@acmehospital.org is a functional mailbox; b.jones@acmehospital.org is not.  The benefit of using a functional mailbox is that it allows you to control the file recipients within your organization and prevent a disruption in the delivery of your notification e-mails in the event of staff turnover.  Note: If your e-mail address changes, please contact MassHealth to update your information to prevent a disruption in the delivery of your notification e-mails.)
•	an SFDA username and password, which will be assigned upon registration	
	•		

Testing and Support	Testing is not required to receive production files via the SFDA.  Once you register to use the SFDA, you will receive parallel files (one via the SFDA and one via your original media type) for 30 days.  After 30 days of successfully downloading the transactions via the secure file system, MassHealth will initiate the suspension of the delivery of your current electronic media type for those transactions.

If you would like to register to use the SFDA, please contact the MassHealth HIPAA Support Center at 1-888-848-5068 or mahipaasupport@unisys.com.

To obtain a username and password, you will need to provide all of the following.

•	your organization’s name
•	your MassHealth provider number
•	a contact name 
•	a contact phone number
•	a valid e-mail address for a functional mailbox to which your notification 
e-mail will be sent
•	a list of transaction(s) you would like to receive via the SFDA (Example: Both the 835 and 997 transactions)

Note:  The registration process will take about two weeks to complete.

Questions	Please contact the MassHealth HIPAA Support Center via the above methods with any questions about this project. 

If you have questions about retail pharmacy claims under HIPAA, call the Affiliated Computer Systems (ACS) Help Desk at 1-866-246-8503.