Important Information about Our National Provider Identifier (NPI) Contingency Plan
Emdeon Business Services (EBS) and our customers have made significant progress toward implementing the NPI in HIPAA-standard electronic healthcare transactions. Since March 2006, EBS has been receiving and forwarding the National Provider Identifier to customers who elect to send and receive the NPI. Today, EBS’s clearinghouse switch services can receive and forward the NPI in all transactions, and all of EBS’s currently marketed software products for claim management can properly handle the NPI. EBS is aware, however, that many providers and health plans are not yet using the NPI in all transactions.
Recognizing the significant effort required to transition an entire industry and the fact that many in the healthcare community will not be prepared to fully adopt the NPI standard, the government agency charged with enforcement - the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – is permitting the use of “contingency plans” to help prevent “adverse effects on covered entities’ cash flow and business operations during the 12 month transition to the NPI standards, as well as on the availability and quality of patient care.”
Leading by example, CMS announced that Medicare will implement a contingency plan and that, for now, Medicare will continue to accept both the NPI and legacy identifiers.
EBS’s Contingency Plan
EBS has been engaged in, and will continue, outreach to its provider and health plan customers about the NPI Rule. EBS has informed its provider and health plan customers that, in general, unless the customer is changing transaction formats in connection with the adoption of the NPI, no additional testing is required with EBS. EBS’s clearinghouse systems support NPI testing between providers and payers.
EBS’s NPI contingency plan is as follows:
Continued Use of Legacy Identifiers