Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

NPIs won't replace Medicare numbers.

Think the National Provider Identifier (NPI) numbers required in May will simplify your Medicare paperwork? Think again.

After the NPI implementation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will continue to issue and use Medicare/Medicaid Provider Numbers, CMS says in a March 2 memo to state survey agencies (S&C-07-16).

New name: To decrease confusion between the new numbers, CMS will call the Medicare Provider Number the "Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Certification Number," or CCN.

The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires providers to use NPIs on all HIPAA-regulated transactions, such as claims, by May 23. But CMS will use the new CCN on all Survey and Certification and patient assessment transactions, the memo specifies.

"In some activities, both numbers will be used," CMS says. The memo is online at www.cms.hhs.gov/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/downloads/SCLetter07-16.pdf.