This provides information regarding Delta Dental of New Jersey's progress toward satisfying the Administrative Simplification requirements of HIPAA.

Delta Dental of New Jersey provides all claims processing and member services for group clients on an insured or Administrative Services Contract (ASC) basis. Our products and networks are structured to provide additional cost containment protections to members who use the Delta Dental Participating Dentist networks.

In terms of HIPAA, Delta Dental is well into the process of compliance. I am Delta Dental's HIPAA Compliance Officer, part of the National Delta Dental Plan Association's HIPAA Committee and a member of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA), and the New Jersey Strategic HIPAA Healthcare Organization and Regional Effort (NJSHORE).

In reference to the privacy provisions of HIPAA, please click here for a copy of our current Notice of Privacy and Information Practices. We have analyzed the flows of Protected Health Information (PHI) within our organization as well as the minimum necessary provisions and have established our policies and procedures.

We have identified our Business Associates and have mailed Business Associate Agreements to all of those entities. To meet the training requirements of HIPAA, each employee who is required to have access to PHI has already received awareness training on HIPAA and training regarding privacy policies and procedures appropriate to his/her job. We have named a Privacy Officer, Douglas Sanborn, Esq.

Delta Dental believes we are compliant with the most important HIPAA transactions requested by our Trading Partners - 270/271, 276/277, 834 and 837. We have implemented a contingency plan for our Trading Partners who may not be ready to transact the HIPAA formats. Please click here for a copy of our HIPAA readiness statement. Please click here for a copy of our transaction status.

Finally, on the issue of security, Delta Dental already practices many of the requirements of HIPAA (e.g.: disaster recovery, shredding of documents, secured access to systems and physical location). We have instituted security PINs and authentication procedures for all communications received into our organization. Our plan is to analyze the final Security Rule and comply with all Security requirements provided for in the Rule.

Please contact our Compliance Manager toll free at 866-861-4716 or e-mail us at compliance@deltadentalnj.com should you require any additional information.

Sincerely,

Bruce D. Silverman
Compliance Officer
Sr. Vice President, Claims & Customer Service