By May 23, 2007, all public education agencies, service providers contracting with schools, and individual practitioners with Medicaid provider numbers must have a National Provider Identifier (NPI). The NPI is a federal Administrative Simplification mandate of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The purpose of this identifier is to replace current identifiers associated with Medicaid and other health plans establishing one nationally-recognizable number for each provider. Public education agencies, as well as all other providers, that do not obtain the NPI number by the date above will not be able to bill for services until the number is received.

The Medicaid In The Schools (MITS) section of the Special Education Unit will be presenting several web-based workshops in December to discuss the process required to obtain the NPI number. The schedule of workshops, as well as other important information related to this topic, is available on the Special Education website, MITS section at the following link: http://arksped.k12.ar.us/sections/medicaid.html.

For questions/comments related to this topic or any other Medicaid related issues, please contact Tony Boaz at (501) 835-2093 or email at tony.boaz@arkansas.gov.