NPI Deadline Rapidly Approaching

HIPAA Administrative Simplification Component Becomes Mandatory in May

One component of HIPAA's Administrative Simplification provision becomes a legal mandate May 23, 2007. To comply with this mandate, all health care providers must obtain a National Provider Identifier number or NPI.

NPI Tips & Facts


Apply for your NPI number as soon as possible. The official registration site is here.


Not all payors are ready to accept the NPI number at this time. Use both your existing (legacy) number and the NPI number when submitting electronic claims.


Notify your payors once you have obtained your NPI number. Test transactions with those entities well before the deadline. You will also need to notify and test with your clearinghouse.

HCFA Changes

Changes in the HCFA 1500 form to accomodate the NPI number take place January 1, 2007. It is optional to use an NPI number on the HCFA form until March 30, 2007. It becomes mandatory April 2, 2007. The new HCFA form will have new fields for identifier numbers on lines 17b, 32a and 33a.

AdvancedMD Benefits

AdvancedMD provides NPI capability automatically to clients at no additional charge to subscribers.

Additionally, we communicate directly with McKesson, the clearinghouse 95% of our medical billing software clients use.

Additional Resources

https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/

https://portal.transactions.mckhboc.com/documents/payor_guides/WEDI_National_NPI.htm