CAQH CORE Batch Processing Vendor Requirements
CAQH CORE Batch Processing: Why not FTP or sFTP for batch transactions instead of HTTP/S?HTTP/S is robust and has a proven track record with batch transactions. The benefits of a single communication standard were a compelling reason to mandate its availability. Information sources that allow FTP and/or sFTP for batch transactions still can support those transmission methods.
For consistency and ease of development, CAQH CORE decided that it was important to have a single standard. Based on that decision, and the fact that many batch processing information sources cannot commit to having the ASC X12 Implementation Acknowledgement (999) available in 20 seconds, CAQH CORE elected to mandate that the ASC X12 Implementation Acknowledgement (999) not be provided in the HTTP response. CAQH CORE does not specify this, but recommends that information sources allow for re-pickup for at least one month after the initial pickup of a batch response file. Please refer to your own internal policies.
- CAQH CORE does not set a maximum on the number of response files that a receiver will be able to pickup. Information sources should create policies to specify the limit to the number or size of files that can be picked up and document those policies in their Companion Guide.
- CAQH CORE does not specify any convention for linking the batch response to the batch request beyond the X12 requirements. Some information sources may provide this information as part of the file name, or as meta-data included in a file listing, and this should be documented in the information source’s Companion Guide.
- CAQH CORE does not specify the content of the physical file returned by the batch processing. Information sources should specify in their Companion Guide the expected contents of the batch files.
- CAQH CORE does not specify the detailed data content of the X12 271 response, which is addressed by the appropriate implementation guide. According to the X12 271 Implementation Guide, there is no requirement for a batch X12 271 to respond to every request included in a batch X12 270.