July 1 Release of Updates to Health Care Provider Taxonomy

July 2, 2010

The National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC) has released its semi-annual updates to the Health Care Provider Taxonomy code set, which will go into effect on October 1, 2010.  The complete code set is available under the Code Sets tab.

The changes to the code set include the addition of new codes, addition of definitions to existing codes, and modifications to existing codes.  When reviewing the code set online, revisions made since the last release can be identified by the color code; new items are green and modified items are orange.

Questions about the code set can be sent to: taxonomy@nucc.org.

Annual Release of Updated 1500 Health Insurance Claim Form Reference Instruction Manual

June 28, 2010 

The National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC) has released its annual, updated version of its 1500 Health Insurance Claim Form Reference Instruction Manual.  The updated instruction manual, Version 6.0 7/10, goes into effect immediately and is available under the 1500 Claim Form tab.  Any interim changes, clarifications, or corrections to the instructions following this release will be posted on the NUCC website.

For more information on the 1500 Health Insurance Claim Form Reference Instruction Manual, email info@nucc.org.

Who Are We?

The National Uniform Claim Committee (NUCC) is a voluntary organization that replaced the Uniform Claim Form Task Force in 1995.  The committee was created to develop a standardized data set for use by the non-institutional health care community to transmit claim and encounter information to and from all third-party payers. It is chaired by the American Medical Association (AMA), with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a critical partner. The committee is a diverse group of health care industry stakeholders representing providers, payers, designated standards maintenance organizations, public health organizations, and vendors.

The NUCC was formally named in the administrative simplification section of the HIPAA of 1996 as one of the organizations to be consulted by the American National Standards Institute's accredited SDOs and the Secretary of HHS as they develop, adopt, or modify national standards for health care transactions. As such, the NUCC is intended to have an authoritative voice regarding national standard content and data definitions for non-institutional health care claims in the United States. The NUCC's recommendations in this area are explicitly designed to complement and expedite the work of the Accredited Standards Committee Electronic Data Interchange (ASC X12N) in complying with the provisions of P.L. 104-191.

The NUCC is comprised of the key parties affected by health care electronic data interchange (EDI) - those at either end of a health care transaction, generally payers and providers. Criteria for membership include a national scope and representation of a unique constituency affected by health care EDI, with an emphasis on maintaining or enhancing the provider/payer balance. Each committee member is intended to represent the perspective of the sponsoring organization and the applicable constituency. Representatives are responsible for communicating information between the committee and the group(s) they represent.