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Issued 9/11/2008

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).  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recommends that each health care provider, including individual physicians and non-physician practitioners:

• 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 in order to ensure that the information reflects current and correct information. 

Maintaining NPPES Account Information for Safety and Accessibility

Health care providers, including physicians and non-physician practitioners, 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 non-physician practitioners, can view their NPPES information in one of two ways:

(1) By accessing the NPPES record at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do and following the NPI hyperlink and selecting Login.  The user will be prompted to enter the User ID and password that he/she 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 1-800-465-3203 if the account is disabled or if the health care provider has forgotten the User ID.

OR

(2) By accessing the NPI Registry at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/NPIRegistryHome.do.  The NPI Registry gives the health care provider an online view of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-disclosable NPPES data.  The health care provider can search for its information using the name or NPI as the criterion.  

Updating NPPES Information

Health care providers, including physicians and non-physician practitioners, can correct, add, or delete information in their NPPES records by accessing their NPPES records at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do and following the NPI hyperlink and selecting Login. The user will be prompted to enter the User ID and password that he/she previously created.   

Please note: 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, thus 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?

Providers can apply for an NPI online at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov  or can call the NPI enumerator to request a paper application at 1-800-465-3203.  Having trouble viewing any of the URLs in this message?  If so, try to cut and paste any URL in this message into your web browser to view the intended information. 

Note: All current and past CMS NPI communications are available by clicking "CMS Communications" in the left column of the www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand CMS webpage.