Important Message for Prescribing/Ordering/Referring Providers
Pharmacies require a National Provider Identifier (NPI) before dispensing medications to providers or submitting claims to health plans. When ordering or referring services, providers should note that an NPI is required on claims from the provider who actually provided the services. Therefore, it is very important that providers share their NPI with those providers with whom they work.

Entity Type 1 (Individual) Versus Entity Type 2 (Organization) NPI
The type of NPI that providers obtain from the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) must match the provider’s Medi-Cal provider number. If a provider possesses an individual Medi-Cal provider number, an entity type 1 NPI (individual NPI) must be registered with Medi-Cal for this provider number. If a provider is incorporated, an entity type 2 NPI (Organization NPI) must be registered with Medi-Cal.