How to Update Your National Provider Identifier (NPI) Information
Remember during medical school when you first got your National Provider Identifier (NPI) number? If it’s been a while since your application, or you just finished residency, it may be a good time to review and update your record.
After all, everyone changes practice locations, addresses, phone numbers, or other contact information once in a while, so unless that NPI information has stayed the same over the years, Visit the National Plan & Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) website to log into your account, where you can:
Submit a change of address
Update contact information, such as phone and fax numbers
Make sure your medical license number matches the information in your state database
If you prefer, you can submit this form by mail to update your NPI information. But a visit to the NPPES website is also a good way to keep up with the latest news about the NPI database, see the improvements in NPPES version 3.0, and learn about important security features like multi-factor authentication.
Why Are NPIs Important?
All healthcare providers who are HIPAA-covered entities, whether individuals or organizations, must have an NPI.
In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Administrative Standard mandated the adoption of a “standard unique health identifier” for providers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of electronically transmitting health information. But it wasn’t until 2004 that the Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule to establish an NPI for providers. An in-depth historical perspective in Bulletin Healthcare says that while the concept of a 10-digit numerical identifier sounds simple, it “has saved hundreds of millions of dollars since CMS began issuing them in 2006.”
HIPAA-covered entities started using the NPI database in 2011 for all electronic transmission of standard transactions and efficient coordination of benefit transactions. Today, NPIs are crucial in ways that probably couldn’t have been imagined when they were being developed in the early 1990s.
Using Your NPI
To start e-prescribing via iPrescribe, you will need an NPI account to set up your profile as part of the identity verification process and to upgrade your account for e-prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS).
Once your NPI account is updated, it’s easier to complete identity verification for iPrescribe (and other apps). Knowing how to update npi information and navigate the NPPES NPI Registry gives physicians and other healthcare providers with prescribing capabilities the ability to monitor malicious use of their credentials.
Now that you’ve got your NPI profile in order, it’s time to ditch the paper prescriptions pad and switch to the secure features available in a mobile e-prescribing application.