CMS Publishes the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES)
June 8th, 2007
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published the NPPES Data Dissemination Notice in the Federal Register. The Notice was published on May 30, 2007 and is now on display at the Office of the Federal Register.
The Notice describes the policy by which CMS will make certain NPPES health care provider data available to covered entities under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and to others
* NPPES health care provider data that are required to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will be made publicly available on June 28, 2007, 30 days after the publication date of the Notice.
* The FOIA-disclosable data will be made available in an initial file downloadable from the Internet, with monthly update files also downloadable from the Internet, and in a query-only database whereby users can query by NPI or provider name.
* The Notice encourages health care providers who have been assigned NPIs to review their NPPES data at this time and make any necessary updates or corrections prior to the end of the 30-day period to ensure that their information is accurate when disclosed by CMS. (Health care providers who are covered entities under HIPAA are required by regulation to update their NPPES data within 30 days of any change.)
* The Notice states that health care providers who wish to delete any NPPES data that was not required to be furnished in order to obtain an NPI may do so prior to the end of the 30-day period if they prefer
that those data not be disclosed by CMS.
A copy of the Notice is available at on the CMS NPI website.
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand/Downloads/DataDisseminationNPI.pdf
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