So you have finally made the leap and decided to accept insurance for your services, congratulations! As a billing company focused on holistic medicine we speak to hundreds of new practitioners on a daily basis so we get a pretty good sense of what the hot button items are within our community. A frequently asked question from providers considering accepting insurance is; “Should I bill under my practice name or social security number?"
To start billing to an insurance company you will typically need a state license and a National Provider Identifier (NPI).The NPI is used by insurance companies as your unique identifier when you submit insurance acupuncture, chiropractic or massage billing codes. If you don't already have an NPI number you can apply for one here: https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/#/. If you have an NPI (but can't seem to remember where you placed it), try looking it up in the registry http://www.npinumberlookup.org/.
However, the decision to bill under your practice name or social security number should be addressed prior to treating patients, ideally, after consulting with an accountant or attorney as to which makes the best sense for you from a business standpoint. From the insurance billing side of things, you will always need the a provider NPI to bill insurance. If you already have EIN number or Tax ID associated with your practice you will need both an NPI for the organization as well as NPI for each individual provider performing services.
Are you interested in learning more about acupuncture billing?
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