How to Find My Physician's NPI Number
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which became law in 1996, continues to have widespread effects on the United States health care industry. HIPAA's administrative simplification standards established a national provider identifier, or NPI, and began to use the numbers on May 23, 2007. Both individual providers and organizations use their NPI in administrative and financial transactions. The Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services maintains a searchable NPI registry that is available to the public.
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Instructions
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Open the "National Plan and Provider Enumeration System" search page at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do.
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Click the "Search the NPI Registry" link. This will open the "NPI Registry Search Home" page. Both individual providers and organizations like medical practices can have NPIs. Click either the "Individual Provider" or "Organizational Provider" link to open the "NPI Registry Search" page.
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Fill in at least one field on the search form. Note that if you select the state field, you must fill in another field as well. If you are unsure of the spelling of a search term, you may use a wild card search. To enter a wild card search, fill in at least two characters of the search term, followed by an asterisk (*). For example, filling in the "Provider Last Name" field with "Sm**" will find providers whose last name starts with "Sm", like "Smith" or "Smythe".
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Click "Search". The page will display your search results. Click the NPI number for any listed result to see more information about that provider.
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Tips & Warnings
The more fields you specify in the search form, the narrower your search will be. If you have trouble finding a provider, try searching with fewer criteria or by using a wild card to account for spelling differences.
Individuals who are incorporated may be listed as organizations in the NPI Registry.
