The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announces the following plans for transitioning to the National Provider Identifier (NPI) in the Fee-for Service Medicare Program:

Between May 23, 2005 and January 2, 2006, CMS claims processing systems will accept an existing legacy Medicare number and reject, as unprocessable, any claim that includes only an NPI.

Beginning January 3, 2006, and through October 1, 2006, CMS systems will accept an existing legacy Medicare number or an NPI as long as it is accompanied by an existing legacy Medicare number.

Beginning October 2, 2006, and through May 22, 2007, CMS systems will accept an existing legacy Medicare number and/or an NPI. This will allow for 6-7 months of provider testing before only an NPI will be accepted by the Medicare Program on May 23, 2007.

Beginning May 23, 2007, our systems will only accept an NPI .
For additional information, to complete an NPI application, and to access educational tools, visit https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov on the web.