Important NPI Reminders for Fee-For-Service (FFS) Medicare Providers
The NPI is here. The NPI is now. Are you using it?
ATTENTION: FFS Medicare Physicians, Non-Physician Practitioners & Other Suppliers
Reminder - Effective March 1, 2008, when required for Medicare claim submission, all 837P and CMS-1500 claims must have an NPI or NPI/legacy pair in the required primary provider fields. Failure to include an NPI will cause the claim to reject.
Visit the CMS NPI web page 
for more details.
TEST NPI-only NOW: If you have been submitting claims with both an NPI and a Medicare legacy number and those claims have been paid, you need to test your ability to get paid using only your NPI by submitting one or two claims today with just the NPI (i.e., no Medicare legacy number). 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 rejects, go into your NPPES record and validate that the information you are sending on the claim is the same 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 your Medicare carrier, FI, or A/B MAC enrollment staff or the National Supplier Clearinghouse for advice right away. Have a copy of your NPPES record available. The enrollment telephone numbers are likely to be quite busy, so don't wait.
Need More Information?
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 Web site. 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.
Note: All current and past CMS NPI communications are available by clicking "CMS Communications" in the left column of the www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand CMS Web page.
Getting an NPI is free - not having one can be costly.
