Government
CMS implements NPI deadline
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 16, 2008
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on May 23 began enforcing the requirement that physicians use their National Provider Identifiers alone on all electronic claims -- and on paper claims with Medicare and any other payer that requires it.
In sticking with the enforcement deadline, CMS rejected requests from the AMA and numerous industry stakeholders asking for an additional six months or more before Medicare started rejecting claims that were not NPI-only.
In turning down the calls for extra time, the agency said it would closely monitor the volume of rejected claims and take action if those numbers were deemed too high.
"We do not feel it appropriate to continue the use of contingency plans past May 23, as it is imperative that the industry continue its move toward compliance," wrote Anthony F. Trenkle, CMS director of e-health standards and services, in a May 19 letter to stakeholders.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/06/16/gvbf0616.htm.
