The NPI registry, or National Provider Identification registry, is a database of all Medicare providers. In a system that handles millions of pieces of confidential info, though, you will find weaknesses. The newest NPI database discloses extra information that opens the door for Medicare fraud.
Resource for this article: Medicare NPI registry reveals confidential data by Personal Money Store
The registry of NPI
The Medicare system is a very complicated bureaucratic maze that depends on the NPI registry, National Supplier Clearinghouse numbers and Medicare Administrative Contractors. The NPI Registry database is called the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System. The NPPES was intended to simplify the payment of Medicare claims. Within the end, though, the NPPES also gives out the National Supplier Clearinghouse number of a provider, which opens up both patient and provider information.
Some new information on NPI registry
The National Provider Identification registry works along with other cogs within the Medicare system. With just the NSC number and a patient’s claim number, anybody can access details 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 possible exploitation.
NPI registry troubles being fixed
Contacting the 3 major arms of the Medicare payment system to ask about the NPI registry problem resulted in being given the runaround, as reported by Home Care Magazine. The suggestion of deleting the NPI details from the database, though, means that a provider might not get paid for work they've done. In other words, this means that providers have to choose between being paid by Medicare for services they provide, or safeguarding the personal data of the doctors and patients. Though a number of solutions very easily coded by dedicated programmers have been suggested, the NPI registry has not said they will be implementing any of them.
Citations:
Home Care Magazine
homecaremag.com/news/nsc-numbers-revealed-npi-registry/
No comments:
Post a Comment