Health Care EDI Fundamental Standards and WEDI
Before speaking about Health Care EDI standardization, let us figure out brief history of EDI standards. In 1975 the TDCC (Transportation Data Coordinating Committee) gathered representatives from the transportation industry to create a first set of formal EDI transaction standards. These transaction sets were primarily created for the transportation industry. TDCC is often referred to as the original publicly published EDI standard. The work did not stop there. In 1979, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) chartered the X12 Accredited Standards Committee (ASC X12). This was made to develop national EDI standards. Later on, most standards body groups in North America were transitioned to the ASC X12 standards body. The TDCC standards no longer exist. They were merged to the transportation transaction sets governed under X12. ASC X12 is the most widely used EDI standard in the United States. DISA (Data Interchange Standards Association) is a term that you will often come across in the EDI industry. DISA is the secretariat to ASC X12 and provides technical and administrative support.
Prior to X12 EDI usage, in the health care industry there was no real standard for exchanging transactions. Each of the private insurers and the blues had their own systems. Medicare used the NSF standards starting with NSF 2.0 in 1991.
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI)
WEDI was founded in 1991 to bring together healthcare industry leaders to identify practical strategies. This solution was developed for reducing administrative costs in healthcare through the implementation of Health Care EDI. WEDI played a big role in promoting the use of standards in the health care. It helped secure the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996.
WEDI’s members are from versatile areas of the Health Care industry, including:
- Insurance Companies
- Hybrid Organizations (formerly Mixed Provider/Healthplan)
- Government Organizations
- Standards Organizations
- Vendors
- Non-Profit Affiliates/Regional Entities.