The National Provider Identifier (NPI) is a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Administrative Simplification Standard (HIPAA), a unique identifier for insured health care providers. NPIs are an essential HIPAA-compliant regulatory and financial activity for all health insurers, insured health care providers, and clearinghouses.
The NPI is a 10-position numeric identification that is randomly placed and has no meaning (10-digit number). This means that the data gives no extra information on the healthcare provider, such as their residence or medical specialty. Legacy vendor identifiers are no longer used in HIPAA standard transactions; they have been replaced with NPI. People often ask how to fill out an NPI application form and a part of this question is also related to the Endpoint. So let’s see what the Endpoint is all about.
What is an Endpoint in the NPI Application form?
Endpoints enable participants to communicate authenticated, encrypted health information directly to known, trustworthy recipients via the Internet in a simple, secure, scalable, and standards-based manner. When providers seek new NPIs or update their NPI information in NPPES, they can input their Endpoint information. Individual (Type 1) and Organization (Type 2) NPI apps accept Endpoint information. This information will be available to users via the NPI Registry, APIs, and Data Dissemination Files.
An endpoint is a technical description of a place that may be connected to for information delivery/retrieval. A sufficient amount of information is necessary to guarantee that a secure connection can be established and relevant data is delivered as determined by the endpoint owner. This is not a description of the present system’s details, as given in the Capability Statement, but of another (possibly external) system. These services might be hosted locally, regionally, or nationally.
Technical information about an endpoint may be utilized for electronic services, such as web services that provide XDS.b or a REST endpoint for another FHIR server. This might be any security context data.
Usage of the Endpoint
These resources are generally utilized to determine where to find endpoint information for:
- Questionnaires: Where Should Information Be Sent? (currently an SDC extension with just the address)
- ValueSet: The location of associated Terminology Services.
- Subscription: The location to which the subscribed data is sent or to pull the data from the source
- Messages: These are currently specified in the Message Header, but just as the address.
- Referrals: Where to find referral requests about resources in the services index- Organization/Location/Practitioner/HealthcareService.
- Care plans: Where can I find a shared CarePlan?
- Scheduling: Where to seek inventories/availability information about resources in the services directory like Organization/Location/Practitioner/HealthcareService. Also, to find information to assign appointment requests.
- Patient/Person: Master Patient/Person Index Locations.
- Directory of Service Providers: Location of linked directories (parent/child/federated)
- DICOM/imaging: Where to go for imaging material and metadata (QIDO-RS, WADO-RS, or WADO-URI)
What to Fill in the Endpoint in the NPI Application form?
Usually, when people ask how to fill out an NPI application, they are often confused about the endpoint more than other sections. The following fields must be filled out to enter your Endpoint information:
- Type of Endpoint
- Endpoint
- Location of the Endpoint
- Is the Endpoint associated with any other organization?
- Legal Business Name (LBN) Affiliation (occurs when Endpoint is associated with another organization)
Additionally, the following fields are optional but strongly advised to be filled out:
- Use of Endpoints
- Type of endpoint content
Details of Various Fields in an Endpoint
Endpoint Type:
When creating an Endpoint, you must provide the Endpoint Type. Please choose an Endpoint Type from the dropdown menu. The following options are available in the dropdown menu:
- Address for Direct Messaging
- RESTful URL
- SOAP URL
- CONNECT URL
- FHIR URL
- Other URL
Endpoint:
You must enter the real Endpoint exactly and suitably when entering an Endpoint.
Endpoint Description:
When entering an Endpoint, you may include a brief description of the Endpoint to aid in its identification.
Endpoint Use:
When creating an Endpoint, you may specify how it will be used.
Endpoint Content-Type:
When creating an Endpoint, you may provide the Content-Type, which identifies the data type.
Is the Endpoint associated with any other organization?
When inputting an Endpoint, you must indicate whether or not the Endpoint is associated with another organization by selecting the appropriate radio option, Yes or No. If you chose Yes, you’ll see a ‘Choose Affiliation’ button appear. To find the Organization associated with the Endpoint, click the Choose Affiliation option.
Endpoint Location:
You may pick the Endpoint Location from the dropdown list of addresses, or you can enter a new Endpoint Location while filling the application form for an NPI number. The dropdown box would display all Practice Location and Endpoint locations related to your NPI and Practice Locations and Endpoint Locations linked with the Endpoint Affiliated Organization if one was selected from NPPES.
You may manually input the Endpoint Location address if you select “Enter a new Endpoint Location.” This new location information will be subjected to an address standardization check, after which you will have the choice of utilizing the standardized address or the input address.
Affiliation:
Endpoints can be affiliated with organizations. To answer the question “Is Endpoint associated with another organization?” choose the Yes radio option. When this option is selected, a Choose Affiliation button will display. To find the Organization associated with the Endpoint, click the Choose Affiliation option. Endpoint Affiliation can be found by NPI, Employer Identification Number (EIN), and/or Legal Business Name (LBN). If the search does not discover the Affiliation, you can manually input the Affiliation’s Legal Business Name.
Endpoint Affiliation Search:
To find an Endpoint Affiliation, enter an NPI, Employer Identification Number (EIN), and/or Legal Business Name and click the ‘Search’ button. The Legal Business Name will be collected and entered in the Endpoint Affiliation box when you select the Affiliation from the Search Results. If you are unable to locate the Affiliated Organization using the Endpoint Affiliation Search, manually input the Affiliation’s Legal Business Name and click Save.
Conclusion
While filling up the application form for an NPI number, you need to be aware of the endpoint and what details you need to enter. In addition, users must attest to the accuracy of the information submitted and grant consent to authorize the sharing of their Endpoint information with other healthcare entities to exchange healthcare information electronically after inputting all of the Endpoint information. This allows for a more secure and efficient exchange of healthcare information without the hassle of mailing documents.
