A National Provider Identifier or NPI is a unique 10-digit identification number issued to health care providers in the United States by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The NPI is the required identifier for Medicare services, and is used by other payers, including commercial healthcare insurers and eMedyx System Software. The transition to the NPI was mandated as part of the Administrative Simplifications portion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and CMS began issuing NPIs in October 2006.   HIPAA covered entities such as providers completing electronic transactions, healthcare clearinghouses, and large health plans were required by regulation to use only the NPI to identify covered healthcare providers by May 23, 2007.

All individual HIPAA covered healthcare providers (physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, dentists, chiropractors, physical therapists, etc.) or organizations (hospitals, home health care agencies, nursing homes, residential treatment centers, group practices, laboratories, pharmacies, medical equipment companies, etc.) must obtain an NPI for use in all HIPAA standard transactions, even if a billing agency prepares the transaction. Once assigned, a provider's NPI is permanent and remains with the provider regardless of job or location changes.

The eMedyx System uses the NPI number to identify at least three components of the secure eMedyx ID Card network:

• The Hardware Smart Card Terminal is associated with the facilities NPI number.
• The Administrator Card is associated with the facilities and/or the practitioners NPI.
• The eMedyx ID Provider Card is associated with the covered healthcare providers NPI.  This card verifies the ability of the provider to view HIPAA compliant data on the patient eMedyx ID Card through the use of a valid NPI number on their card in a valid eMedyx ID terminal.
• an EMT or First Responder Card is identified using the NPI of their organizational facility if the practitioner does not have one of their own.

If we add the subscribers eMedyx ID Card to the system, we have a four-way redundant security check that verifies the eMedyx ID Terminal, the Provider, the Patient and the providers' authority to view patient data based upon their NPI code.  This method also identifies the Administrators ability to change or modify the terminal.  Each of these transactions is logged and each NPI number is retained in the encrypted log database for future review if necessary in compliance with HIPAA reporting guidelines.

The NPI must be used in connection with the electronic transactions identified in HIPAA and is used by eMedyx as a verification tool (one of many) to comply with the security and privacy requirements of HIPAA. In addition, the NPI may be used in several other ways:

1. by health care providers to identify themselves in health care transactions identified in HIPAA or on related correspondence;
2. by health care providers to identify other health care providers in health care transactions or on related correspondence;
3. by health care providers on prescriptions (however, the NPI will not replace requirements for the Drug Enforcement Administration number or State license number);
4. by health plans in their internal provider files to process transactions and communicate with health care providers;
5. by health plans to coordinate benefits with other health plans;
6. by health care clearinghouses in their internal files to create and process standard transactions and to communicate with health care providers and health plans;
7. by electronic patient record systems to identify treating health care providers in patient medical records;
8. by the Department of Health and Human Services to cross reference health care providers in fraud and abuse files and other program integrity files;
9. for any other lawful activity requiring individual identification