Effective May 23, 2008, the NPI will be required for all HIPAA standard transactions.

For all primary and secondary provider fields, only the NPI will be accepted and sent on all HIPAA electronic transactions (837I, 837P, NCPDP, DDE, 276/277, 270/271 and 835), paper claims (UB-04 and CMS-1500) and SPR remittance advice.

The reporting of Medicare legacy identifiers in any primary or secondary provider fields will result in the rejection of the transaction.

REMINDER:  May 23rd is just 8 weeks away!
TEST NPI-only NOW
Now that the NPI is required on all Medicare claims in the primary provider fields, if your claims are being successfully processed with NPI/legacy pairs (and most are) now is the time to begin testing claims using the NPI alone.  If the Medicare NPI Crosswalk cannot match your NPI to your Medicare legacy number, the claim with an NPI-only will reject.  You can and should do this test now!  If the claim is processed and you are paid, continue to increase the volume of claims sent with only your NPI.  If the claims reject, go into your NPPES record and validate that the information you are sending on the claim is consistent with the information in NPPES.  If it is different, make the updates in NPPES and resend a small batch of claims 3-4 days later.  If your claims are still rejecting, you may need to update your Medicare enrollment information to correct this problem.  Call the Customer Service Representative at your Medicare carrier, FI, or A/B MAC enrollment staff or your DME MAC to discuss your situation and, if necessary, have it investigated.  Have a copy of your NPPES record or your NPI Registry record available.  The contractor telephone numbers are likely to be quite busy, so don't wait.

Doing this testing now will allow time for any needed corrections prior to May 23, 2008, the date when only the NPI will be accepted in all provider fields.

Still not sure what an NPI is and how you can get it, share it and use it?  As always, more information and education on the NPI can be found through the CMS NPI page:  www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand on the CMS website.  Providers can apply for an NPI online at:  https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov or can call the NPI enumerator to request a paper application at 1-800-465-3203.  Having trouble viewing any of the URLs in this message?  If so, try to cut and paste any URL in this message into your web browser to view the intended information.

Doug Beardsley
952.851.2489
dbeardsl@careproviders.org

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