National Provider Identifier 5321778 224609987 2008-07-09T17:20:16Z Darius Sinclair 6668353 /* External links */ A '''National Provider Identifier''' or '''NPI''' is a unique 10-digit identification number issued to [[health care]] providers in the United States by the [[Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services]] (CMS). The NPI will replace the [[UPIN|unique provider identification number]] (UPIN) as the required identifier for [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] services, and will be used by other payers, including commercial healthcare insurers. The transition to the NPI was mandated as part of the Administrative Simplifications portion of the [[Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act]] of 1996 (HIPAA), and CMS began issuing NPIs in [[October 2006]]. <ref>Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): [http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HIPAAGenInfo/ HIPAA - General Information] Retrieved 15 August 2006</ref> HIPAA covered entities such as providers completing electronic transactions, healthcare clearinghouses, and large health plans were required by regulation to use <u>only</u> the NPI to identify covered healthcare providers by [[May 23]], [[2007]]. CMS subsequently announced that that May 23, 2008, CMS will not impose penalties on covered entities that deploy contingency plans to facilitate the compliance of their trading partners (e.g., those healthcare providers who bill them). The posted guidance document can be used by covered entities to design and implement a contingency plan. Details are contained in a CMS document entitled, "Guidance on Compliance with the HIPAA National Provider Identifier (NPI) Rule." Small health plans have one additional year to comply. All individual HIPAA covered healthcare providers ([[physician]]s, [[physician assistant]]s, [[nurse practitioner]]s, [[dentist]]s, [[chiropractor]]s, [[physical therapist]]s, etc.) or organizations ([[hospital]]s, [[Home care|home health care agencies]], [[nursing home]]s, [[Drug_rehabilitation|residential treatment centers]], group practices, [[laboratory|laboratories]], [[pharmacy|pharmacies]], [[medical equipment]] companies, etc.) must obtain an NPI for use in all HIPAA standard transactions, even if a billing agency prepares the transaction. Once assigned, a provider's NPI is permanent and remains with the provider regardless of job or location changes. Other health industry workers, such as admissions and [[medical billing]] personnel, housekeeping staff, and orderlies, who provide support services but not health care, are not required to obtain the NPI. The NPI was proposed as an 8-position alphanumeric identifier. However, many [[Stakeholder (general)|stakeholders]] preferred a 10-position numeric identifier with a [[check digit]] in the last position to help detect keying errors. The NPI contains no embedded intelligence; that is, it contains no information about the health care provider, such as the type or location of the health care provider. The NPI must be used in connection with the electronic transactions identified in HIPAA. In addition, the NPI may be used in several other ways: #by health care providers to identify themselves in health care transactions identified in HIPAA or on related correspondence; #by health care providers to identify other health care providers in health care transactions or on related correspondence; #by health care providers on prescriptions (however, the NPI will not replace requirements for the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] number or State license number); #by health plans in their internal provider files to process transactions and communicate with health care providers; #by health plans to coordinate benefits with other health plans; #by health care clearinghouses in their internal files to create and process standard transactions and to communicate with health care providers and health plans; #by [[Electronic health record|electronic patient record]] systems to identify treating health care providers in patient medical records; #by the Department of Health and Human Services to cross reference health care providers in fraud and abuse files and other program integrity files; #for any other lawful activity requiring individual identification The NPI number can be obtained online through the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) pages on CMS's website.<ref>Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): [https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/StaticForward.do?forward=static.npistart National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) National Provider Identifier (NPI) for Health Care Providers] Retrieved 14 February 2007</ref> Turnaround time for obtaining a number is almost instantaneous, unusual for a medical credentialing operation. NPI numbers can be searched on the CMS website listed in external links 'National Plan and Provider Enumeration System information from CMS'. A 10-digit NPI Number may be validated using the [[Luhn algorithm]] by prefixing "80840" to the 10-digit number. ==Notes== <div class="references-small"> <references/> </div> ==External links== * [https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do National Plan and Provider Enumeration System] information from CMS * [http://www.npinumberlookup.org NPI Number Lookup] webpage [[Category:Medicare and Medicaid (United States)]] [[Category:Identifiers]]