Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

HHS to grant free access on the Internet You finally have a date that you can expect a National Provider Identifier (NPI) directory -- which will help you find your ordering physicians- NPIs to ensure payment for lab tests.

CMS will issue the NPI information June 28 as drawn from National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) data.

-Anyone may request NPIs and other NPPES healthcare provider data from [the Department of Health and Human Services],- HHS says in a May 30 Federal Register notice. -HHS will make NPPES healthcare provider data available on the Internet.-

HHS won't release sensitive information such as physicians- Social Security numbers, tax numbers and dates of birth. But other NPPES data will be in the directory. -We believe that making these data available on the Internet is the most efficient and effective means of dissemination,- HHS says.

Resource: You can find more information at www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand.

Compliance risk: If you don't have your NPI now that the May 23 deadline has passed, you are courting trouble. -At this point, any covered entity that is noncompliant, and has not implemented a contingency plan, is at risk for enforcement action,- CMS warns in a message to providers.

CMS- contingency plan guidance -does not mean that providers have an extra year to get an NPI,- CMS cautions. Under CMS- plan, providers should be using their own NPIs but can still use the previous -legacy- billing numbers for referring physicians.

Try this: -Medicare is now asking that submitters send a small number of claims using only the NPI,- CMS instructs providers. -If no claims are rejected, the submitter can gradually increase the volume.-