Knowledge Base
Adding a Direct Address to NPPES
Updated 10/19/20We are often contacted with questions about the CMS Digital Contact Information requirement or because a Direct Address and FHIR endpoint are requested when enrolling for an NPI on NPPES.
According to CMS there is an expectation of digital contact information availability as of late 2020:
"Digital Contact Information: CMS will begin publicly reporting in late 2020 those providers who do not list or update their digital contact information in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES). This includes providing digital contact information such as secure digital endpoints like a Direct Address and/or a FHIR API endpoint. Making the list of providers who do not provide this digital contact information public will encourage providers to make this valuable, secure contact information necessary to facilitate care coordination and data exchange easily accessible." More information about this requirement may be found here.
Once providers have one or more Direct addresses or FHIR endpoints, they can add these endpoints to NPPES to meet CMS's Digital Contact Information requirement. Note that the address to add in the Direct Address field should NOT be a regular email address. A Direct Address is a special type of email address serviced by a Health Information Service Provider (HISP) such as EMR Direct. Providers who do not already have a Direct address can purchase an account from EMR Direct for access from Epic, Meditech, OpenEMR, or the EMR Direct website, or obtain an account through their EMR vendor, if they use an EMR other than Epic, Meditech, or OpenEMR.
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