NPI DEADLINE CHANGES FOR HOSPITALS

Hospital and health care organizationswho thought they had until May 23, 2008,to transition to the National ProviderIdentifier (NPI) on Medicare claims shouldthink again.

The Centers for Medicare & MedicaidServices (CMS) issued an e-mail inOctober announcing January 1, 2008, asthe new deadline for hospital billing. Theagency said that it is changing therequired date because a majority ofproviders have already made the transition,and "the change to NPI has been insuccessful operation for all institutionalprovider claims since June 2007."

The e-mail further stated that theprovider may still submit NPI/legacy pairs,but claims with only a legacy provideridentifier for the primary fields will beretuned as unprocessable. Legacy may stillbe used in secondary fields. For providerswho are using both NPI and legacy to bereimbursed, CMS suggests they test asmall group of claims using only NPI.