The NPI registry, or National Provider Identification registry, is a database of all Medicare providers. In a system that handles hundreds of millions of pieces of confidential data, though, there are a few weaknesses. The newest NPI database discloses additional details that opens the door for some interesting Medicare fraud.
Article source: Medicare NPI registry reveals confidential information by Personal Money Store
The big NPI registry
The Medicare system is a complicated maze that depends on the NPI registry, National Supplier Clearinghouse numbers and Medicare Administrative Contractors. Released very recently, the NPI Registry database was named the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System. The NPPES was designed to make easier payments of Medicare claims. In the end, though, the NPPES also gives out the National Supplier Clearinghouse number of a provider, which opens up both patient and provider information that should be confidential.
Registry details for NPI
The National Provider Identification registry works along with other cogs in the Medicare system. With just the NSC number and a patient’s claim number, everyone can access information on payment of claims, a patient’s diagnosis and procedures, and much more information. In other words, the new NPI registry opens up the bones of the Medicare payment system to some possible exploitation.
Fixing issues in the NPI registry
Contacting the 3 major arms of the Medicare payment system to ask about the NPI registry problem resulted in being given the runaround, as outlined by Home Care Magazine. The suggestion of deleting the NPI information from the database, though, means that a provider might not get paid. In other words, this means that providers have to decide between being paid by Medicare for services they provide, or safeguarding the personal info of the doctors and patients. Though several solutions effortlessly coded by dedicated programmers are suggested, the NPI registry has not said they will be implementing any of them.
Find more information here:
Home Care Magazine
homecaremag.com/news/nsc-numbers-revealed-npi-registry/
No comments:
Post a Comment