Action Required: Safe Harbor Connectivity

ForwardHealth’s Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) processing system for Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Safe Harbor transactions is implementing the EDI as a Service (EDIaaS) Health Direct EDI (HDE) translator on July 16, 2023. The new translator will help ForwardHealth better adhere to established EDI standards and better align with other states and payers. ForwardHealth uses EDI standards to verify the format of health care-related information (for example, claims, payments, and eligibility) when it is shared between trading partners and ForwardHealth.

Trading partners are required to register with EDIaaS to obtain credentials for the new system to process Safe Harbor transactions following the implementation. The new credentials will be part of the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) wrapper. Instructions for registering are included in the attached ForwardHealth Safe Harbor Connectivity Companion Guide, P-00678. The guide has been revised to reflect system changes related to the implementation.

Trading partners should note the following regarding the translator implementation:

• The EDIaaS HDE system requires a login and password that are separate from the ForwardHealth Trading Partner credentials. The password for the new system will require updating every 180 days instead of every 60 days.
• A different URL will be required to access the new system. Please refer to the attached companion guide for the URL. Trading partners are encouraged to take part in onboarding June 26 - July 14, 2023, to confirm access to the new translator and submit a test transaction.
• The Trading Partner ID will remain the same; however, the Safe Harbor Trading Partner ID and the Sender ID value in the SOAP wrapper will require a prefix of “WI-“ appended to the ID. For example, Trading Partner 100000001 will be WI-100000001 for Safe Harbor.
• ForwardHealth will now send a 999 Acknowledgement for Health Care Insurance or TA1 interChange Acknowledgement with transaction responses.
• All Trading Partner response files will be available for 15 days, rather than 60 days. After that period, files may be retrieved by contacting the EDI Help Desk at 866-416-4979 or via email using the Contact link at the bottom of any Portal page.

ForwardHealth will host onboarding to assist Safe Harbor trading partners with confirming access to the new translator June 26 - July 14, 2023.

During this time, Safe Harbor trading partners are asked to:

1. Contact the ForwardHealth EDI Helpdesk to obtain a Safe Harbor Health Direct EDI (HDE) account password by providing their trading partner ID. The password will be sent to the email address listed on the Trading Partner Profile by the EDI Helpdesk (VEDSWIEDI@wisconsin.gov).
2. Change the HDE password before using the Harbor Health Direct EDI account. Instructions for changing the password are found in the Safe Harbor Connectivity Companion Guide that is attached.
3. Complete the program updates needed to interact with the Safe Harbor HDE solution. Detailed instructions can be found in the Safe Harbor Connectivity Companion Guide that is attached.
4. Submit one 270 Health Care Eligibility/Benefit Inquiry and Information Request transaction and verify a valid 271 response is obtained. If you need assistance, contact the EDI Helpdesk. Note: Affordable Care Act batch processing will not be available during the onboarding window.
5. Notify the EDI Helpdesk of successful testing with the new Safe Harbor HDE solution. After successfully testing, trading partners should continue to use the current Safe Harbor solution to process both batch and real-time transactions until the implementation of the new solution on July 16, 2023.
6. Begin using the new Safe Harbor HDE solution for all real-time and batch transactions on and after July 16, 2023, 4 a.m. Central Time. Notification will be sent if there is any change in the schedule.

Contact the EDI Help Desk at 866-416-4979 or VEDSWIEDI@wisconsin.gov for questions about these changes.