CMS Publishes Notice of Data Available In National Plan and Provider Enumeration
CMS issued a notice that establishes the data that are available from the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) and defines who has access to that information.
This notice, published in the May 30 Federal Register, follows the NPI rule published in January 2004 and mandated by that regulation. Congress in the administrative simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act required the Department of Health and Human Services to establish an NPI system.
"The NPPES uniquely identifies health care providers by the use of an application process and assigns them their NPIs," the notice says. "The NPPES creates a record for each health care provider to whom it assigns an NPI. The records are updated when health care providers furnish updates to the NPPES."
In reviewing the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, along with CMS FOIA and Privacy Act procedures, CMS concluded in the notice that Social Security numbers, Internal Revenue Service Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, and dates of birth are not disclosable under FOIA. The agency included a table in the notice that states what information will be disclosed.
To view the notice in the May 30 Federal Register, click here: http://frwebgate2.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=966457103450+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve.
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