Provider Notice Issued 03/22/2021

Date:   March 22, 2021

To:       Enrolled Hospitals:  Chief Executives Officers, Chief FinancialOfficers, and Patient Accounts Managers

Re:      Launch of HFS Statewide TechnologyPlatform

This notice provides guidance to hospitals regarding the launch of HFS’statewide technology platform to facilitate transmission of HL7 formattedmessages from hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and other institutions andnotify community providers of patient admissions, discharges and transfers toimprove care coordination and quality.

The functionality of this technology platform will support Illinois’ 2021-24 Comprehensive Medical Programs QualityStrategy and align with the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule requirements that hospitals sendelectronic notifications of admissions, discharges and transfers to a patient’scare team.

All hospitals that are enrolled in the IMPACT system to serve Medicaid participantswill be required to transmit electronic notifications of admissions, discharges,and transfers for Medicaid participants in an HL7 format to the HFS technologyplatform by September 30, 2021. 

Illinois has received approval of federal funding to offset hospitalcosts for setting up the electronic data connection to the HFS technologyplatform and will provide additional guidance to hospitals to requestreimbursement for allowable costs.

It is anticipated that the technology platform will be operational forhospitals to begin setting up data connections by June 1, 2021. Technicalspecifications and details about the onboarding process will be provided in thenear future.

HFS will host online demonstrations of the technology at the date andtimes listed below.  Hospital staffengaged in quality improvement, discharge planning, information technology andclinical services are encouraged to attend either meeting.

More information about this initiative is available at the HealthChoice Illinois ADT webpage. 

Kelly Cunningham, Administrator

Division of Medical Programs​