The source NPPES files for 2008 on contain up to 50 other identifiers per NPI which can have any of the following types:
- 1 Other
- 2 Medicare DEA
- 4 Medicare ID-Type Unspecified
- 5 Medicaid
- 6 Medicare Oscar/Certification
- 7 Medicare NSC
- 8 Medicare PIN
Jean Roth created the NPI to DEA crosswalk below from the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) downloadable data file for greater ease of use. An NPI can and often does have more than one DEA associated with it. The DEA number format is 9 alpha-numeric characters with the first two characters alpha and the last seven numeric. The crosswalk includes identifiers of any stated type if they look like the could be a DEA number. That is, if they have two letters and six digits, or the Other Provider Identifier Issuer variable OTHPIDISS matches "DEA" (and not "DEAN"). Obviously, this definition is quite liberal.
A second limitation this dataset is that providers don't have to include their DEA number or any other type of other identifier in their NPI application to request an NPI. My understanding is that health care providers must apply for DEA numbers in order to be able to write prescriptions.
Another limitation is that CMS stopped delivering the medicare other provider identifers in January 2018. The files here are based on the December 2017 delivery.
To keep only records for individuals, records where entity == 2 (Entity is an Organization, not an Individual) could be dropped or the DEA type looks like an institution rather than a practioner per the DUATYPE variable.
The deatype and pcredential variables might be helpful for identifying and keeping only providers of certain types.
The first character of the DEA number seems to represent the following per the Department of Justice:
A/B/F/G Hospital/Clinic/Practitioner/Teaching Institution/Pharmacy
M Mid-Level Practitioner (NP/PA/OD/ET, etc.)
P/R Manufacturer/Distributor/Researcher/Analytical Lab/Importer/Exporter/Reverse Distributor/Narcotic Treatment Program and tagged as dubious on Wikipedia:
- A Deprecated (used by some older entities)
- B Hospital/Clinic
- C Practioner
- D Teaching Institution
- E Manufacturer
- F Distributor
- G Researcher
- H Analytic Lab
- J Importer
- K Exporter
- L Reverse Distributor
- M Mid-Level Practitioner
- P/R/S/T Narcotic Treatment Program
- X Suboxone/Subutex Prescribing Program
The pcredential variable contains the credential information (e.g. M.D., D.O.) from the NPI Application form.
Processed versions of the source NPPES data these files are made from and an NPI to state license crosswalk, and an NPI to Medicare crosswalk and an NPI to Medicaid crosswalk are also available.
December 2017 -- Last delivery with fuller range of Medicare Other Provider Identifier Type Codes
|
Stata |
SAS |
CSV |
Desc |
| npi2deaxw.dta | npi2deaxw.sas7bdat | npi2dea.csv | desc_npi2dea.txt |
| dea2npixw.dta | dea2npixw.sas7bdat | dea2npi.csv | desc_dea2npi.txt |
Current
|
Stata |
SAS |
CSV |
Desc |
| npi2deaxw.dta | npi2deaxw.sas7bdat | npi2dea.csv | desc_npi2dea.txt |
| dea2npixw.dta | dea2npixw.sas7bdat | dea2npi.csv | desc_dea2npi.txt |
Contact data@nber.org with questions, comments, or suggestions.
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