A unique physician identification number (UPIN) was a six-character alpha-numeric identifier used by Medicare to identify doctors in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. They were discontinued in June 2007 and replaced by

National Provider Identifier A National Provider Identifier (NPI) is a unique 10-digit identification number issued to health care providers in the United States by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The NPI has replaced the Unique Physician Identification ...

, or NPI numbers.{{why, date=February 2017 The United States Congress authorized the creation of UPIN IDs through Section 9202 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). The

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer ...

(CMS) was responsible for creation of the UPINs for each doctor accepting Medicare insurance. A directory of UPINs was formerly available from the UPIN Registry, as required by Section 4164 of COBRA, but this service was discontinued after May 23, 2008.

References

External links

CMS's System Of Record (SOR) page for UPIN
— includes a link to detailed information published in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the government gazette, official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every wee ...

Medicare and Medicaid (United States) Identifiers 1985 establishments in the United States 2007 disestablishments in the United States