NPI Number - How to Notify Insurance Carriers and Medicare of Your NPI

NPI number or National Provider Identifier number is a ten digit number assigned to members of the medical profession who submit medical insurance claims for payment. Once you obtain your NPI number, here is how to notify insurance carriers and Medicare of your NPI.

Providers have been submitting claims on HCFA 1500’s and UB92’s for reimbursement of services from insurance carriers. With the adoption of the NPI number, new forms were introduced to submit medical insurance claims.

The new forms, the CMS 1500 and the UB04 have provisions for reporting the NPI number on the claim form. These forms have split fields and shaded areas to differentiate between the NPI number and other legacy numbers.

When you start submitting the new forms to Medicare, Medicare will then enter your national provider identifier in your file and forward the NPI information to any secondary insurance companies with crossover coverage.

Many insurance companies are now sending out letters and forms requesting the NPI information from the providers. Some are even making calls to the provider’s offices to get the information. These letters should be taken seriously as you do not want to contribute to anything that will slow or stop your future payments.

It would be a good idea to submit your NPI number to each insurance company you bill for. Make sure it is printing on your CMS 1500 or UB04 forms. If an insurance company has sent you a request, you should complete the instructions and return the request. For all other insurance carriers, write a brief note on your letterhead stating the provider’s name, npi number, tax id number and locations and send to provider relations.

As of May 23, 2007 medical insurance claims must have an NPI number in order to be reimbursed. The insurance companies have a huge job ahead of them in getting all these NPI numbers in place before the deadline. You want to make sure you’ve done all your part in making this change a reality. Be sure to notify all insurance carriers who will be reimbursing you.