Medicare to require physicians to use new ID numbers on March 1

Some physician organizations worry about more glitches like those already seen in the move to a universal, national identifier system.

By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. Jan. 14, 2008.

Washington -- Two more national provider identifier deadlines are fast approaching for physicians.

As of March 1, doctors who bill Medicare electronically must include their NPIs on all Medicare claims in addition to any older IDs they may have been using. For most of the past year, the program has been allowing physicians to use their older, "legacy" identifiers alone while they obtained new NPIs and made sure the personal information attached to all of the numbers was matching correctly.

After May 23, physicians will be required to use only NPIs on all electronic claims submitted to Medicare and all other health care payers. That means any information discrepancies must be ironed out before then. Although the deadlines don't apply to physicians who file only paper claims, those who send their claims to a clearinghouse that files electronically on their behalf must comply. (See correction)

Some doctors continue to complain that the transition to the new identification system has been a bureaucratic nightmare. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in September 2007 told carriers to start rejecting claims for which physicians' personal information did not match between their new IDs and their old numbers. That move caused many physicians problems that in some cases stopped Medicare payments, reported the AMA and the Medical Group Management Assn.

In the hope of preventing additional pay stoppages, the organizations, in a Nov. 7, 2007, letter to CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems, asked the agency to soften the March deadline.