Knowledge Center

The WEDI Report was published in 1993 and provided a vision for the industry to successfully transition to electronic data interchange standards as a way to bring cost-efficiencies to burdensome administrative processes.  The report led directly to the administrative simplification provisions in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which gave the industry transactions and code set standards, security and privacy requirements, the National Provider Identifier, and the forthcoming Health Plan Identifier.   

Twenty years later, WEDI took on the task of updating this report with the goal of building a roadmap for healthcare information exchange for the future.  The updated report addresses what was proposed in 1993, what has been accomplished since then, what still needs to be accomplished, and what new work needs to be done to fully automate and standardize health care administration in the 21st century.