National Provider Identifier, Entity Type 2

Organization health care providers are group health care providers and are eligible for NPIs as Entity Type 2. Organization health care providers may have a single employee or thousands of employees. For example, an incorporated individual may be the only health care provider employed by that organization provider (the corporation that he or she formed). Some organization health care providers are made up of components that function somewhat independently from their “parent” organization. These components may furnish different types of health care or have separate physical locations where health care is furnished. These components and their physical locations are not themselves legal entities, but are part of the organization health care provider (which is a legal entity). The NPI Final Rule refers to the components and locations as subparts. An organization health care provider can get its subparts their own NPIs. If a subpart conducts any HIPAA standard transactions on its own (that is, separately from its parent), it must obtain its own NPI. Subpart determination ensures that entities within a covered organization are uniquely identified in HIPAA standard transactions they conduct with Medicare and other covered entities. For example, a hospital offers acute care, laboratory, pharmacy, and rehabilitation services. Each of these subparts may require its own NPI because each one sends its own standard transactions to one or more health plans.