As the U.S. healthcare industry struggles with implementing the federally mandated upgrade to the ASC X12 Version 5010 standard for electronic claims and other administrative communications, the Accredited Standards Committee has announced it's putting a hold on work on a successor standard.

"After meeting with healthcare industry stakeholders and assessing the current and planned healthcare industry initiatives, ASC X12 will not recommend its 6020 Type 3 Technical Reports (TR3s) to the Designated Standards Maintenance Organizations (DSMO) for consideration of adoption under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)," the committee stated in a news release. "ASC X12 doesn't typically make decisions such as this until after final publication; however, it believes the healthcare industry is better served at this time by a reassurance that the 5010 implementations will have time to mature before another version is recommended for adoption."

Many health insurance plans and providers are still availing themselves of the graces of an enforcement extension as they've been unable to meet a Jan. 1, 2012 compliance deadline for upgrading to the Version 5010 standards.

Cathy Sheppard, chairwoman of the Falls Church, Va.-based standards development organization, said in the news release that although the 6020 version includes upgrades "that satisfy a significant number of the business needs and requests brought forward by industry participants, ASC X12 recognizes that the industry is not ready to begin another implementation cycle at this time."