replace requirements for the DEA number or state license number); by health plans in their internal provider files to process transactions and communicate with health care providers; by health plans to coordinate benefits with other health plans; by health care clearinghouses in their internal files to create and process standard transactions and to communicate with health care providers and health plans; by electronic patient record systems to identify treating health care providers in patient medical records; by the Department of Health and Human Services to cross reference health care providers in fraud and abuse files and other program integrity files; for any other lawful activity requiring individual identification. Signup process The NPI number can be obtained online through the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) pages on CMS's website. Turnaround time for obtaining a number is from 1 to 20 days. NPI numbers can be searched on the CMS website listed in external links 'National Plan and Provider Enumeration System information from CMS'. Identifier details The NPI is a 10-position, intelligence-free numeric identifier (10-digit number). This means that the numbers do not carry other information about healthcare providers, such as the state in which they live or their medical specialty. The NPI must be used in lieu of legacy provider identifiers in the HIPAA standards transactions. As outlined in the federal regulation, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), covered providers must also share their NPI with other providers, health plans, clearinghouses, and any entity that may need it for billing purposes. Ten-digit NPI numbers may be validated using the Luhn algorithm by prefixing "80840" to the 10-digit number. Open data set NPI data is downloadable from CMS. The downloadable database was updated monthly until December 2012, and has been issued weekly since. A data structure file is available separately from CMS. As of February 2022, the file download size is 841 MB, and the full database is 8.2 GB when extracted. Use as a data key The NPI is a data key that identifies a substantial portion of healthcare providers and other entities in the US, it is a frequently used data key in other data sources. For instance, the DocGraph data set is a crowdfunded open data set that details how healthcare providers collaborate to deliver care (i.e. referral patterns) that uses the NPI as its data key. Notes External links Official NPI Registry