Get Informed, Get Covered

Health care for you and your family can be a complicated matter that has to be addressed at some point, no matter how confusing or vexing. Selecting a provider, a plan, what kind of coverage and for whom you want to cover can be questions that are difficult to answer without help. Fortunately, there are some tools available to make this process easier.

National Provider Identifier numbers, or NPI numbers, are 10 digit numbers assigned to health care providers by The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services for billing purposes. All health care providers must have an NPI number to be reimbursed by insurance companies, refer patients or write prescriptions. Insurance companies use NPI numbers to determine whether or not the provider is legitimate, to monitor the services that a particular provider gives and to make sure the provider is qualified to perform the services he or she bills for.

The National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) is a database registry that allows users to quickly find their physician’s NPI number. It is important to know this number to determine whether or not your physician complies with HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that passed legislation in 2007 requiring all health care providers to have an NPI number.

Find out even more information about looking up NPI numbers by browsing through the selection of informative resources available at NPILookUp.com.