NCPDP Launches HCIdea to Solve Provider ID
and Communication Routing

On Monday, February 26, 2001 during the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs' (NCPDP) 24th Annual Membership Conference, "2001: A Technical Odyssey," NCPDP President Lee Ann Stember announced HCIdea, a new subsidiary of NCPDP established to solve the health care industry's need for a quality standard unique provider identifier.

"At the discretion of NCPDP's board, HCIdea will be the subsidiary corporation that creates, supports and distributes the identifier," Stember said. HCIdea will create a health care identifier for individual health care providers, which will replace the current use of the DEA number for claims processing and adjudication.

Growing objections to using the DEA number in pharmacy transactions and its structural inadequacy for many industry routing and identification purposes led NCPDP's Board of Trustees to take action.

"Establishing a unique identifier that replaces the DEA number has been a longstanding priority of NCPDP members," Stember stated. "With the membership's help, NCPDP will create a unique identifier for every prescriber in the nation by using its own resources and business systems. Ultimately, NCPDP anticipates this identifier will find extended use within the health care industry. We believe that NCPDP's members and the health care industry will provide superior and cost effective services using this identifier."

During the conference, NCPDP investigated its membership's business requirements and their organization's ability to assist the Council in creating a unique identifier and common database. "The new HCIdea database will be created by using the data content, technical help and financial resources from within our own membership," Stember said. "Just as NCPDP serves our industry by solving industry challenges through consensus, our members have pledged to work together to solve the provider identification number issue once and for all, on our own."

For more information about how HCIdea is “Prescribing “The Way Of The Future,” contact the NCPDP offices at (480) 477-1000.