CMS Extends National Provider Identifier (NPI) Compliance Deadline

 On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that some providers and health plans will be given more time to comply with the HIPAA National Provider Identification rule. CMS in a released guidance said that covered entities that have "been making a good faith effort to comply" with the NPI rule may adopt a contingency plan for up to one year beyond the May 23, 2007, deadline. A final rule published in 2004 established the NPI as the standard unique health provider identifier and requires all covered entities to comply with its provisions by May 23, 2007. Small health plans have until May 23, 2008, to be compliant. CMS issued the guidance after various industry representatives and advisory groups told the department that many providers and health plans would be unable to meet the May 23 deadline. Contingency plans, which could include accepting legacy provider numbers on HIPAA transactions, must end by May 23, 2008, the guidance states. CMS plans to provide data from its National Plan/Provider Enumeration System to help covered entities create "crosswalks" to link legacy identifiers with NPIs, according to the government agency. In addition, Medicare plans to release its contingency plan soon as well. Read CMS’ own announcement of the changes here.