LEADING ELECTRONIC HEALTHCARE TRANSACTION COMPANIES LAUNCH COOPERATIVE EXCHANGE™ TO SERVE PAYERS
The nation’s leading electronic healthcare transaction companies today announced the creation of a not-for-profit organization, the Cooperative Exchange™ Association (www. cooperativeexchange. org), which will expand the delivery of HIPAA-defined transactions to the nation’s healthcare payers.
(PRWEB) October 13, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LEADING ELECTRONIC HEALTHCARE TRANSACTION COMPANIES LAUNCH COOPERATIVE EXCHANGE™ TO SERVE PAYERS
Teterboro, NJ – October 8, 2002 – The nation’s leading electronic healthcare transaction companies today announced the creation of a not-for-profit organization, the Cooperative Exchange™ Association(www. cooperativeexchange. org), which will expand the delivery of HIPAA-defined transactions to the nation’s healthcare payers. Founding members include ProxyMed, Inc. (Nasdaq: PILL), MedUnite Inc., THIN, Inc., and ENS-Electronic Network Systems, Inc., and represent an estimated collective annual volume of approximately 750 million healthcare transactions from physicians and hospitals throughout the country.
“Through shared network access and member connectivity, the Cooperative Exchange answers the needs of payers – large and small – for increased volume of HIPAA-defined transactions,” says Laura Carabello, spokesperson. “Our intent is to simplify payer connectivity to a larger universe of providers and to enhance competition for healthcare transaction services in the marketplace.”
The Cooperative Exchange represents a new cooperation in the industry, enabling payers to establish a direct connection with one or more members as a gateway to other member companies of the organization. As payers struggle to meet the HIPAA October 2003 compliance deadline, they will be challenged to meet transaction requirements and can now look to members of the Cooperative Exchange to ease these burdens. Rather than implementing multiple new connections to reach their providers, Cooperative Exchange is intended to assist payers by allowing them to have access with one or more trading partners in the organization, enabling payers to benefit from broad access to a significantly expanded network of providers.
“Our members are connected, either directly or indirectly, to one another and can collectively deliver a larger volume of provider transactions to payers than they could as individual companies,” asserts Carabello. “As the organization membership grows and provider transaction volume expands, payers will derive even greater value.”
The Cooperative Exchange will be looking for additional ways to bring more efficiency to the industry and ease the efforts of all players, including payers and providers, to facilitate seamless, optimal information exchange. The Cooperative Exchange will be an important resource for other alliances which are addressing issues that impact the healthcare information technology industry, and looks forward to collaborating with organizations tackling electronic transaction standards, HIPAA regulations and other concerns.
The Association is actively seeking to expand its membership and anticipates the introduction of associate member status for those companies interested in a supportive role. Interested companies should call Laura Carabello, 201.641.1911 x12, visit the Web site www. CooperativeExchange. org or contact any member company of the organization.
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It is the policy of Cooperative Exchange to comply strictly with the antitrust laws and regulations of the United States applicable to meetings, programs, or activities. Any discussion or conduct in violation of such laws or regulations are contrary to Cooperative Exchange policy and must be avoided.
