What is my NPI?
The National Provider Identifier (NPI) is an Administrative Simplification Standard under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). For covered health care facilities, the NPI is a distinctive identification number.
In the administrative and financial transactions implemented under HIPAA, covered health care services and all health program and health care clearinghouses must use the NPIs.
The NPI is an intelligence-free, 10-position numerical identifier (10-digit number). This means that the statistics do not hold other information, such as the state in which they live or their medical specialty, about healthcare providers.
The NPI must be used in HIPAA standards transactions in place of legacy provider identifiers.
How do you get an NPI number?
Applying through the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System is the quickest way for health care professionals and organizations to get an NPI number (NPPES). The application’s completion should take approximately 20 minutes, and an NPI number can be obtained in as little as ten days.
What is the Purpose of an NPI?
The CMS is taking steps with the NPI to facilitate electronic transactions in health care. It simplifies the procedures and reduces the logistical burden on health care providers by providing a national standard for electronic health care transactions.
Change of information in a record
There are two options for changing/updating the details on an NPI record until the initial application is enumerated and a National Provider Identifier (NPI) is assigned.
Updates can be made online by accessing https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov and completing the steps below:
NOTE: The following changes cannot be done electronically and require a Paper Application/Update Form: Date of Birth Changes, Changes to Number of Social Security, NPI Reactivation, and NPI Deactivation.
- On the Home Page of the NPPES website, enter your I&A User ID and password.
- To view the desired NPI application, select the ‘Magnifying Glass’ ICON.
- To edit the desired NPI application, pick the ‘Pencil’ ICON.
- Click the ‘Next’ button located at the bottom of each page or select the desired page from the left-hand navigation bar to access the page that contains the information to be changed.
- Update the necessary information.
- Navigate to the submission page until all the desired information is changed. Check the box at the bottom of this page for the Certification Statement.
- Select Submit. This button will not be enabled until you check the Certification Statement box at the bottom of this page.