The NPI is here. The NPI is now. Are you using it?
The NPI is here. The NPI is now. Are you using it?
During this testing and implementation phase for the NPI, providers should pay close attention to information from health plans and clearinghouses to understand how claims are being processed and what providers should be doing to assure no disruption in payment. Providers should also ensure that the information they are submitting on a claim is what is being transmitted to each health plan by the billing vendors or clearinghouses who may be submitting the claims on their behalf.
National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) FOIA-Disclosable Data to be Available on August 1, 2007
The NPI Registry, a query-only database, will be operational on August 1, 2007. The NPI Registry will operate in a real-time environment. This means that FOIA-disclosable data for newly enumerated providers, as well as updates and changes to enumerated providers’ FOIA-disclosable data, will be available in the NPI Registry as that information is applied to NPPES. The NPI Registry will enable a user to query by, for example, NPI or provider name, and will return a list of all NPPES records that meet the query specifications. The user selects from that list the NPPES records he/she wants to see. The NPI Registry will then display the FOIA-disclosable data for those records. About a week later, CMS will make available a file for downloading that will contain the FOIA-disclosable NPPES data of enumerated health care providers. Technical expertise will be required to download that file and to import that data into a relational database or to otherwise manipulate the data. CMS will be furnishing more information about data dissemination, including a "Read Me" file, Header File, and Code Value document for the downloadable file, and will make that information available on the CMS NPI web page at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand/06a_DataDissemination.as
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