On January 23, 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published their Final Rule that adopts the National Provider Identifier (NPI) as the standard unique identifier for healthcare providers.  The compliance date for all covered entities is May 23, 2007, with the exception of small health plans that have until May 23, 2008 to comply.

MedAvant recognizes the importance of meeting all deadlines established by HHS for implementing NPI and we will be 100% in compliance.  In addition we want to be sure we're doing everything we can to help our clients make a smooth transition to NPI.  As such, we are currently implementing an NPI solution and developing special services for clients who need assistance submitting claims with valid NPI.

MedAvant's NPI Contingency Plan

On April 2, 2007, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a press release to clarify the enforcement rules for the National Provider Identifier (NPI) compliance date. CMS will allow the implementation of contingency plans, which cannot be extended beyond May 23, 2008, for entities that will not meet the May 23, 2007 deadline but have demonstrated a good faith effort to meet the compliance date. In response to the CMS contingency statement, most payers have revised their NPI plans and will  continue accepting claims containing legacy ID's after 5/23/2007. Keeping in step with CMS and the majority of the payers; MedAvant will continue to accept claims after 5/23/2007 that contain legacy ID's.

We encourage our clients to adopt the "dual use" policy recommended by CMS and submit claims containing both the legacy ID and NPI as this will give you the best chance for having your claims processed successfully during this contingency period. Should a payer accept NPI only during the contingency period, MedAvant will strip the legacy ID's and forward the NPI as required by the payer.  We will continue to forward legacy ID's when received on claims if the payer has agreed to continue accepting legacy ID's.

MedAvant will continue to monitor our Payers regarding their NPI status and will provide notices via this website and our "NPI Update" Customer Notification broadcast message.