NPPES – Keeping It Safe and Keeping It Updated

This message is for health care providers, particularly physicians and other practitioners, who have obtained National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) and have records in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES). CMS recommends that health care providers, including individual physicians and Non-Physician Practitioners (NPPs):

• Know and maintain their NPPES user IDs and passwords.
• Reset their NPPES passwords at least once a year. See the NPPES Application Help page regarding the “Reset Password” rules. Those rules indicate the length, format, content and requirements of NPPES passwords.
• Review their NPPES records to ensure the information reflects current and correct information.

Maintaining NPPES Account Information for Safety and Accessibility – Health care providers, including physicians and NPPs, should maintain their own NPPES account information (i.e., user ID, password and secret question/answer) for safety and accessibility purposes.

Viewing NPPES Information – Health care providers, including physicians and NPPs, can view their NPPES information in the following ways:

• Access the NPPES record at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do, follow the NPI hyperlink and select “Login.” The user will be prompted to enter the user ID and password that was previously created.*

*If the health care provider has forgotten the password, enter the user ID and click the “Reset Forgotten Password” button to navigate to the Reset Password page. If the health care provider enters an incorrect user ID and password combination three times, the user ID will be disabled. Please contact the NPI enumerator at (800) 465-3203 if the account is disabled or if the health care provider has forgotten the user ID.

• Access the NPI Registry at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/NPIRegistryHome.do. The NPI Registry gives an online view of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-disclosable NPPES data. Health care providers can search for their information using the name or NPI as the criterion.

Updating NPPES Information – Health care providers can correct, add or delete information in their NPPES records by accessing their NPPES records at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do, following the NPI hyperlink and selecting “Login.” The user will be prompted to enter the user ID and password that was previously created.

Please note that required information cannot be deleted from an NPPES record; however, required information can be changed/updated to ensure that NPPES captures the correct information. Certain information is inaccessible via the Web, requiring the change/update to be made via paper application. The paper “NPI Application/Update Form” can be downloaded and printed at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/cmsforms/downloads/CMS10114.pdf.

Need More Information? – Still not sure what an NPI is and how you can get it, share it and use it? As always, more information and education on the NPI can be found at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand/ on the CMS Web site. All current and past CMS NPI communications are available by clicking "CMS Communications" in the left column of the page. Providers can apply for an NPI online at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do or call the NPI enumerator to request a paper application at (800) 465-3203.