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Effective June 20, 2006, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will require that all individuals enrolling as new participating providers in the Medicare program, submit a National Provider Identifier (NPI) as part of the enrollment process. Audiologists in private practice must enroll in the Medicare program in order to be eligible to receive Medicare reimbursement for covered services. Please note that no immediate action is required by audiologists currently enrolled in the Medicare program.
The NPI requirement is part of the new regulations that were developed to formalize the CMS enrollment process and can be found at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/06-3722.pdf (PDF format)
The new regulations will also require current Medicare providers to report any changes to their enrollment information to their Medicare contractors within 90 days of those changes. In addition, the new regulations establish a 5-year revalidation cycle for existing participating providers. The revalidation process will allow CMS to ensure that they have correct information on all Medicare providers. CMS contractors will be directly contacting participating providers to alert them about when their 5-year revalidation cycle begins. For additional information or questions, please contact Neela Swanson at reimbursement@asha.org.
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