The healthcare landscape is evolving, with nurse practitioners (NPs) pioneering a diverse range of practice models, from insurance-billing entities to cash-only ventures. Amid these choices, a pivotal question emerges: What’s the significance of a corporate National Provider Identifier (NPI-2) for NPs, irrespective of their billing approach?
Here is the summary follows below. However, you may also want to listen to the podcast episode.
1. Professional Legitimacy and Credibility: Regardless of your billing structure, an NPI-2 offers an unmistakable stamp of professionalism, signaling to both patients and peers that your practice stands on a recognized and credible foundation.
2. Clear Separation of Entities: Whether navigating insurance reimbursements or cash transactions, a corporate NPI delineates the boundaries between an NP’s clinical responsibilities and business operations, ensuring clarity during audits, tax filings, or legal consultations.
3. Future-Proofing Your Practice: Healthcare is dynamic. If an NP decides to transition between cash-only and insurance models or vice versa, a corporate NPI provides the needed flexibility, ensuring adaptability in a changing environment.
4. Strengthening Collaborative Ventures: Today’s healthcare thrives on collaboration. A corporate NPI often acts as a prerequisite or adds credibility when entering into partnerships, ensuring that your practice remains agile in multidisciplinary healthcare setups.
5. Building Beneficial Vendor Relationships: Certain vendors, especially in healthcare, necessitate an NPI for transactions or deals. This can facilitate access to industry-specific tools, discounts, or unique offerings.
6. Ensuring HIPAA Compliance: Beyond its crucial role in insurance billing, a corporate NPI plays a role in maintaining HIPAA compliance across diverse healthcare transactions, safeguarding practices from potential compliance blunders.
7. Boosting Referrals: In an interconnected healthcare network, referrals can be a goldmine. A corporate NPI becomes an accessible verification tool for other providers, fostering trust and opening avenues for collaboration.
8. Streamlining Business Management: From insurance claims to direct patient charges, a corporate lens (thanks to a distinct NPI) can simplify the maze of operations, financial tracking, and potential growth strategies.
Topic Resources
- Podcast Episode #56 Business Structures for the Nurse Practitioner
- NPI: What you Need to Know (CMS)
- National Plan & Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) – get your NPI numbers here.
More Resources
- Catch up on all the NP Business Matters podcasts here.
- Check out the Nurse Practitioners in Business Facebook Group
- Become a Member of the NPBO™
- Ready to start your own practice?
Connect with the Podcast
You can find the NP Business Matters Podcast on popular podcasting platforms:
- Apple Podcast
- Stitcher
- Spotify
- Google Podcast
- iHeartRadio
- Amazon Music/Audible
- Pandora
- And others. You’ll also find us in your favorite podcast player.
And as always, please subscribe, leave a rating, and share with your colleagues.
If you have requests for topics and/or guests, you can leave us a comment below, or contact us at npbohelp at gmail (dot) com
Your Turn
What has been your experience with NPI-1 and NPI-2? Please feel free to share below.
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for posting this! I had never heard of an NPI-2.
Do you have any resources for where we can learn more about getting an NPI-2? Also, what are next steps once you have one – to get it linked to a business?
Thanks for any clarification and all the information you share with us!
Warmly,
Jess
Hello! I was hoping you would speak a bit to those of us didn’t start out with an NPI to, but have since gotten one. I have been in private practice under my original NPI for nearly a year now, but I recently acquired my NPI 2, and I’m not entirely sure how to transition things over to that. I’m talking in terms of credentialing/recredentialing specifically… Any insight on this?
This help file should assist you in making the change. https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/webhelp/nppeshelp/NPPES%20FAQS.html
Hi Tina.
For credentialing, it may be up to the individual companies as to how you make the changes. While you can certainly make changes in your CAQH information, that may not change what the payers have. I would see if they have information on updating your credentialing on their site, or just try and reach out to provider enrollment.