For Providers: What is a National Provider Identifier, or NPI?

Your National Provider Identifier, or NPI, is a 10-digit unique identifier that represents health care providers in HIPAA standard transactions.

NPI does not represent demographic data about you. Instead, all your demographic data is associated with your Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network provider identifiers, which you can update by contacting us. 

How many NPI do I need?

We recommend obtaining one NPI for each provider identification number you use when submitting claims. 

Federal guidelines also allow for an NPI to be obtained for unique combinations of tax ID, location and taxonomy or specialty codes.

What if I have an individual business?

If you're an individual provider who's formed a legal entity like a corporation or LLC, you'll need two different types of NPI. Keep in mind you can't have any other providers employed by your business.

You'll need these two NPI types:

  • Type 1, or individual NPI. It's associated with your Social Security Number.
  • Type 2, or organizational NPI. It's associated with your Employer Identification Number, or EIN.

What if I have multiple locations?

Each location needs to have its own NPI for us to process your claims. You'll need to go through our enrollment process and select change an existing provider to add locations.

What about hospital psychiatric and rehabilitation units?

We pay for psychiatric and rehabilitation services under your hospital's facility code. If your hospital has separate NPI for their psychiatric and rehabilitation units, they must register those with our provider contracting department and with EDI.

How do I send my NPI to Blue Cross?

How taxonomy codes work with NPI

Taxonomy codes are used to classify health care providers by their provider type or specialty. 

We use taxonomy codes to assist in the identification of a provider when they're using one NPI to replace several Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Provider IDs. So, if you're submitting electronic claims under multiple provider IDs, those claim submissions also must contain a taxonomy code to avoid possible payment delays.

Find your taxonomy code with these documents:

Still have questions?

Questions about electronic claims submission, taxonomy and Trading Partner Agreements? Email edisupport@bcbsm.com and include your NPI and submitter ID.

Need help submitting your NPI?  Call the provider enrollment department at 1-800-822-2761.

You can also call the NPI helpline at 1-800-465-3203.

Still need help?
Contact us

Related forms and documents

Medicare NPI Dissemination Form (PDF)
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