2018 Supplemental

Administrative Encounter Data

Submission Guide

DataSubmit@Healthfirst.org
Healthfirst, NY

3/1/2018

Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure

 Smoking Cessation
2018 Supplemental Administrative Encounter Data Submission Guide

Table of Contents

What’s New. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Encounter Data Submission Quick Steps... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) Account Set-up.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Submitting a File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

File Format Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Encounter Data File Layout Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Helpful Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 | Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure

2018 Supplemental Administrative
Encounter Data Submission Guide

What’s New?
■■ We are encouraging sites to use measure acronyms (e.g., ENC_
SITENAME_AWC_MMDDYYYY, ENC_SITENAME_CCS_MMDDYYYY,
ENC_SITENAME_COL_MMDDYYYY, etc.) as part of the file name
or to add measure name or service type in the File_Format
column of your Encounter file. The measure acronym or measure
name can be found in your monthly Member’s Missing Services
report (Acronym, Rule Name columns). Doing so will allow the
DataSubmit team to provide feedback on the impact your files
are having.

■■ You will now receive email notifications when you place a file
outside of the required TO HF folder. You will keep receiving the
email notification until the file is either moved to the required
TO HF folder or removed from the account.

■■ You will also receive email notifications when nonstandard names

are used. These files will be rejected from the production load.
You will have a chance to resubmit your file using a valid name.

■■ We are no longer accepting comma delimited files.

The automated system does not support files with this format.
We are still accepting files in Excel, tab delimited, and pipe delimited.

■■ Files received with additional columns will be rejected from

the production load. Submitters will receive an email notification
advising that their submission was not processed and validated.

Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure | 3

 Smoking Cessation
2018 Supplemental Administrative Encounter Data Submission Guide

Encounter Data Submission Quick Steps

The Supplemental Administrative Encounter Data Submission Guide

provides instructions for sending Encounter data to Healthfirst.

1. R
 equest set-up for your required Healthfirst-administered Secure
File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) account (a one-time-only activity):

■■ Send an email to datasubmit@healthfirst.org requesting an

Account Setup so you can send your file to Healthfirst. Be sure to
include your full contact information, including phone number.

■■ In response, Healthfirst will send you an email that provides the
information you need to log in to your Healthfirst-administered
Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) account, into which you will
drop your file(s)

The email also contains information for preparing files according

to Healthfirst format requirements.

Once your account is set up, there is no need to notify Healthfirst

via email that you are submitting data. After you submit your file
via the Healthfirst SFTP, you will receive an email confirming that
Healthfirst has received the file. However, if you do not receive
a notification email from datasubmit@healthfirst.org within one
hour, contact datasubmit@healthfirst.org and inquire about
your file submission.

2. P
 repare your file. Note: These format instructions are for Encounter
data submissions only. Do not use them for LABORATORY data
submissions. Send a request for the Laboratory Data Submission
Guide to datasubmit@healthfirst.org.

Prepare your file in text (tab delimited or pipe delimited) or Excel

format (see Format Instructions starting on page 9).

3. 
Submit the file to Healthfirst
Log in to your SFTP account and submit the file to Healthfirst
(see Submission Steps on page 8). Healthfirst will validate your file
to determine the format and content for use in production.

In response, you will receive an email confirming that Healthfirst

has received the file. Below is the general language added for
email notifications for validated files that did not return any
rejections/errors.

4 | Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure

 Total
FileName Rejected Passed
Records
ENC_SITENAME_03012018.xlsx 2 0 0

4. Receive and respond to email notification

■■ W
 hen the results indicate all format and content criteria
are met, your file is qualified for production. No response
is necessary.

■■ If the results indicate deficiencies in format and/or content,

Healthfirst will provide you with feedback identifying what
needs correction.

o Deficiencies in format

• D
 atasubmit@healthfirst.org will send an email
detailing why your file was not validated and
processed in production

o Deficiencies in content
• D
 atasubmit@healthfirst.org will send an email
with language and grid (see sample email with
rejection grid on page 6). Language will be added
to remind you to go into your SFTP account to
extract the rejection file. The rejection file will
have an additional column, ERROR_SUMMARY,
providing you with the reason(s) for rejection.

Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure | 5

 Smoking Cessation
2018 Supplemental Administrative Encounter Data Submission Guide

Encounter Data Submission

Quick Steps (continued)

Total
FileName Rejected Passed
Records
ENC_SITENAME_03012018.xlsx 10 5 5

FileName

ENC_SITENAME_03012018.errors.csv

Please log in to your SFTP account and access the /FROM HF folder to
find the rejection file(s).

■■ After fixing the errors in your file, you can resubmit. Please remember
not to use the same file name. Please add a V2, a B, or a different date
(e.g., ENC_SITENAME_03012018V2 or ENC_SITENAME_03012018B).
The automated process will not process files already validated.

6 | Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure

 SFTP Account Set-up [one-time-only]
1. S
 end an email to datasubmit@healthfirst.org requesting an Account
Setup so you can submit a file via the Healthfirst-administered
Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) application.
■■ Be sure to include your full contact information:

a) Tax ID
b) Practice or site name
c) Contact first and last name
d) Contact email
e) Contact phone number
■■ In return, you will receive an email containing:

a) Your Healthfirst-assigned username

b) A link to the Healthfirst-administered SFTP login screen
c) Steps to obtain your password
d) Instructions on how to prepare files in the required format
e) Steps to submit your file using the SFTP application
2. Obtain your password.
3. Use the link provided in the email to download instructions and
requirements for the file formatting and submitting your file.
4. Use the link to go to the Healthfirst-administered SFTP login screen:

Please bookmark the login screen (https://hfftp.healthfirst.org/thinclient/) for quick access.

Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure | 7

 Smoking Cessation
2018 Supplemental Administrative Encounter Data Submission Guide

Submitting a File
1. P
 repare your file in the required format.
2. L
 og in to your Healthfirst SFTP account.

3. C
 lick the To HF link.

a. A directory displays

4. L
 ocate and select the file(s) you want to submit by first clicking on
Upload Files (it’s the green and gray button on the top left hand side of
your screen). Browse your files and select your submissions. You can
submit as many as five files at once. See below:

5. Click Upload.

6. Log out.

8 | Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure

File Format Instructions
Please do not use these layout instructions for submitting Laboratory
data. Send a request for the Laboratory Data Submission Guide to
datasubmit@healthfirst.org.

The input file must be a text-formatted (tab and pipe delimited)

file with .txt as the file extension or an Excel file with*. xlsx or xls file
extensions. For example, ENC_SITENAME_03012018.txt or
ENC_SITENAME_03012018.xlsx. Do not include periods (.),
hyphens (-), or spaces in the file name. Also, please do not name
your files ENC_PROVIDER, as these will be completely rejected.
Please use proper naming convention.

■■ Follow the layout and field length descriptions in the File Layout
Requirements chart on page 10

■■ Blank values are acceptable for non-required fields

■■ Lengths of values per column should not exceed those defined

in the File Layout Requirements chart

Please follow these best practices:

1. Remove all duplicate records from the file you submit.

2. Use uppercase for all characters.

3. Y
 our output file must contain all fields shown on the File Layout chart,
even if you are submitting blank values for non-required columns.
Fields must be in the order specified on the File Layout tab.

4. Try not to send more than a million records in one file.

5. Do not send blank rows or blank columns.

6. Group the data in your files by service type. For example,

“Well-care visits,” or “Preventive screening.” You can do this
either by adding the acronym of the measure in the file name or
adding it on the file_format column of your file.

Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure | 9

 2018 Supplemental Administrative Encounter Data Submission Guide

Encounter Data File Layout Requirements

Do not use these layout instructions for submitting Laboratory Results data.
Please send a request for the Laboratory Data Submission Guide
to datasubmit@healthfirst.org.

10 | Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure

Helpful Tips
To avoid common errors:

■■ Do not use these layout instructions for submitting Laboratory

Results data. Send a request for the Laboratory Data Submission
Guide to datasubmit@healthfirst.org.

■■ Make sure the required fields are populated properly

in the output file.

■■ Column headers should be present in every file.

Under no circumstances should the names be changed.

■■ Avoid the use of special characters. For example, letters with

accents, foreign characters, currency symbols, math symbols,
fractions, and/or other punctuation.

■■ Date values should be formatted exactly as specified in

the File Layout requirements.

■■ If you are using systems other than Excel to create your output,
make sure the system doesn’t generate extra lines or characters.

■■ Contact datasubmit@healthfirst.org for any questions/concerns

on how to submit your data.

Proprietary and Confidential to Healthfirst—Not for Redisclosure | 11

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Healthfirst Health Plan, Inc., dba Healthfirst Medicare Plan, is an HMO plan with a Medicare contract and a contract with the New York
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