| Q: | Why is my NPI being shared by NPINumberLookup? |
| A: | To simplify finding and providing NPI numbers. By HIPAA law, "Each covered health care provider [must] disclose its NPI, when |
| requested, to any entity that needs the NPI to identify that health care provider in a standard transaction." | |
| Q: | Am I required to obtain and make available my NPI when requested? |
| A: | Most likely, yes. NPIs and associated data are in the public domain. |
| Q: | Is it safe? |
| A: | Yes, it's the same data provided by the US government , just made a bit easier to search. |
| Q: | How often is the data updated? |
| A: | Data is refreshed weekly, as provided by NPPES. Real-time data searches are available here |
| Q: | Why is this site not password protected? |
| A: | NPIs and associated infomation are in the public domain. |
| Q: | How do you ensure that NPIs in your database are valid? |
| A: | CMS follows a version of the ISO standard Luhn algorithm. We verify all submissions at the time of entry using this algorithm. |
| Q: | I've heard that Medicare is has an NPI Registry. If so, why are you doing this? |
| A: | CMS has a publicly searchable NPI registry, but it is not as quick and easy as this registry. |
| Also, lookups on this registry work well on most mobile devices. | |