Large organizations with many providers or clinicians with National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) who wish to conduct a bulk upload or update of provider digital contact information will be able to do so through the Electronic File Interchange (EFI) process. CMS has developed an enhancement that will allow for bulk updating of digital contact information in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES). The EFI process will allow only the digital contact information to be updated without impacting the rest of the record in NPPES, and no additional data fields will need to be updated for each individual provider or clinician. The bulk upload functionality is now operational in NPPES.

Information in NPPES is publicly accessible via both an online search option and a downloadable database option. Providers may review and confirm their digital contact information in several web locations, including: the NPPES National Provider Identifier (NPI) Registry at https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov, the NPPES NPI Registry Application Programming Interface (API) at https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/api-page, or the NPPES Data dissemination file at https://www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/administrative-simplification/NationalProvIdentStand/DataDissemination. Each source currently contains all the information that will allow providers to determine the correctness of their information (85 FR 25583).

Yes, it is possible for a provider practice to maintain one digital contact, however the practice may need to implement workflows to accommodate a process for accurately transferring electronic information to individual providers. For more information on how information is captured in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), we encourage providers to review information available on the NPPES website at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/webhelp/nppeshelp/HEALTH%20INFORMATION%20EXCHANGE.html (85 FR 25584).

A digital fax number is not considered a digital endpoint (85 FR 25583). For those providers who continue to rely on the use of fax-based modes of sharing information, we hope that greater availability of digital contact information will help to reduce barriers to electronic communication with a wider set of providers with whom they share patients. Ubiquitous, public availability of digital contact information for all providers is a crucial step towards eliminating the use of fax machines for the exchange of health information (85 FR 25581). CMS urged all providers to take advantage of this resource to implement Congress' requirement that the Secretary establish a digital contact information index. If a provider is not exchanging information electronically, and does not have a digital contact, the digital contact field would remain empty in their National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) record, and they will appear on the public report of providers who do not have digital contact information in NPPES. The report will be updated once they have the capability to exchange electronically and update their digital contact information in NPPES (85 FR 25584).