A Message of Interest to Physicians and Nonphysician Practitioners Regarding NPI and Enrollment Files

As stated in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provider Listserv messages that were sent last fall concerning CRs 6417 and 6421, CMS has made available a file that contains the National Provider Identifier (NPI) and the name (last name, first name) of all physicians and nonphysician practitioners who are of a type/specialty that is eligible to order and refer in the Medicare program and who have current enrollment records in Medicare (i.e., they have enrollment records in PECOS that contain an NPI). This file is downloadable from the Medicare provider/supplier enrollment Web site www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll, click on "Ordering/Referring File" on the left-hand side.

This .pdf file contains approximately 800,000 records. Due to the large size of this .pdf file CEDI suggests you right click and select "Save as" before attempting to open this file.

A new file will be made available periodically that will replace the posted file; at any given time, only one file (the most recent) will be available. The file can be viewed online. In addition, it can be downloaded by users with technical expertise and further sorted or manipulated. It can also be used to search for a particular physician or nonphysician practitioner by NPI or by name. Please note the following: (1) Records are in alphabetical order based on the surname of the physician or nonphysician practitioner. (2) Name suffixes (e.g., Jr.), if they exist, are not displayed. (3) There are no "duplicates" in the file. Many physicians or nonphysician practitioners share the same first and last name; their corresponding NPIs are the assurance of uniqueness. (4) Deceased physicians and nonphysician practitioners are not included in the file. (5) If a user is unsure of a physician or nonphysician practitioner's NPI, he or she can look it up in the NPI Registry at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/NPIRegistryHome.do.

Keep in mind that the record in the NPI Registry is not the Medicare PECOS enrollment record.

Post Date 01/29/10