But slapping a shiny new e-commerce platform onto the back end of a rusty, aging IT infrastructure could put you behind for years to come, warn consultants.
Adoption also offers a world of opportunity.
Some plans are already starting assessments to see where they stand on compliance with finalized regs and those that are still just a twinkle in regulators' eyes. And HCFA's final rule on transactions and code sets is expected in June 2000, taking at least some of the mystery out of compliance. And every plan wants to point to a varied suite of Web applications for providers and others. Physicians have been shy about dialing up to EDI in part because of the lack of an all-payor solution, he argues. But once a multi-payor solution comes along, usage will grow.