CMS Delays NPI Data Dissemination

CMS has announced that it is delaying dissemination of National Provider Identifier, or NPI, data until Aug. 1 to allow health care providers a chance to check and, if needed, correct that information. According to a notice posted on the CMS Web site, health care providers must submit their data changes no later than July 16 to ensure that those changes are included in CMS' initial NPI file that will be available on the Internet on the above noted date.

Physicians and other health care providers now have additional time to review and update their information and to delete optional data elements that do not need to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

"CMS understands that the health care industry is in urgent need of the FOIA-disclosable NPPES (National Plan and Provider Enumeration System) health care provider data; however, CMS believes it is in the best interests of the industry, and the health care providers in particular, that the NPPES data we will be disclosing be as accurate as possible," said the notice.

Certain pieces of health care provider information, such as social security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers and dates of birth, are not covered under the act and will not appear in the NPI database. Other information on the provider form is optional, and physicians have the opportunity to review this information and determine whether they want it disclosed.

A list of the data elements that must be disclosed under the act is available at the CMS site as a PDF file (PDF file: 4 pages / 108 KB. More about PDFs.)

To review their NPI information, physicians should return to CMS' NPPES Web site, where they applied for their NPI, and enter their personal login information to access their original application.

According to CMS, nearly 98 percent of the estimated 2.3 million covered health care providers now have their NPIs.