Advancing the profession
Another piece to advancing and promoting the profession of clinical exercise physiologists has been put into place! CEPA has been contacted several times by members with requests to assist them in working with the federal government to establish National Provider Identifier (NPI) eligibility. In response to these requests, the legislative committee of CEPA has worked hard to research this and make it happen. See below to learn more about this important step and how it can impact the clinical exercise physiology profession.
What is an NPI and why is it important?
A National Provider Identifier (NPI) is a unique 10-digit identification number issued to health care providers in the United States by the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). All individual HIPAA-covered healthcare providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, dentists, physician assistants, chiropractors, physical therapists, athletic trainers etc.) or organizations (hospitals, home health care agencies, nursing homes, laboratories, pharmacies, medical equipment companies, etc.) must obtain an NPI for use in all HIPAA standard transactions. Typically, most healthcare providers working in a hospital/clinic based settings would be filed under the group NPI designation held by their organization. It is unlikely that a CEP working in this type of setting will have an individual need for an NPI, but not unheard of. (This is exactly the situation of one of the requests noted above). Those working as what’s known as an “Entity Type I provider” or “sole proprietor”, though, require an individual NPI enumeration code for billing purposes. For example, someone who furnishes healthcare to patients and does not practice as part of a health care organization is an “Entity Type 1 provider”.
A Call to Action
Inclusion of the Clinical Exercise Physiologist in a national code set of healthcare providers proves to be one more step toward bringing the clinical exercise profession to the same level as Physical Therapists, Registered Dietitians, etc. CEPA is encouraging all Clinical Exercise Physiologists to apply for an individual NPI number. (The greater the number of individuals applying for NPIs, the more we will increase our visibility and the more CMS will realize what an important role CEPs play in healthcare!) Please visit the CEPA website at www.cepa-acsm.org for helpful information on how to apply.