NPI I and II Practice Address - Telepsychiatrist

[trixter888]

Wondering if any telepsychiatrists who practice from home can chime in. Per website our NPI I and II numbers should list a practice address. I called NPI and they said to list my home address if that is where I practice. This address is public information and I personally do not want my patients (or others) knowing where I live.

Have other tele-psychiatrists listed their home address?

Thoughts?

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[Sushirolls]

This is a very good question. One I don't exactly know a quality answer to, and part of my concerns for listing home address, I would opt to always have a 'Brick and Mortar' location.

State medical licenses, insurances credentialed with all potentially have directories that something is/must be listed. (some state med boards don't list, others do).

The other thing to consider is how does each insurance company do their billing. Place of Service codes (POS) can be 02 for telehealth, 11 for outpatient office, 21 inpatient. When reading the codes its appears to be entirely based upon where the patient is, but when you talk to insurance companies and factor in modifiers it gets confusing. So knowing POS they want for a doc practicing telemedicine out of their home could mean the difference in getting paid or not? A detail you don't want to assume.

Also, be aware you super bills will have your practice address on it. So if your home is your only place of practice it will be on billing sheet and even the insurance claims the patients will see. It may be very difficult to conceal home address.

 

[allantois]

Get a virtual address

 

[clozareal]

Virtual office with an actual mailing address where they can forward you your mail. Traveling mailbox, UPS store with an actual address, Regus, Anytime Mailbox, Earth Class Mail, subletting even one day a week in an established therapy office (see: craigslist or local psychiatrist's/therapist's newsletters), etc. There are lots of options but you'll definitely not want to use your home address for your business.

 

[liquidshadow22]

Virtual office with an actual mailing address where they can forward you your mail. Traveling mailbox, UPS store with an actual address, Regus, Anytime Mailbox, Earth Class Mail, subletting even one day a week in an established therapy office (see: craigslist or local psychiatrist's/therapist's newsletters), etc. There are lots of options but you'll definitely not want to use your home address for your business.

What about telepsych practice in multiple states, do you advise getting virtual address in each state? If you take insurance would you need to credential separately with each virtual address in that respective state?

 

[clozareal]

What about telepsych practice in multiple states, do you advise getting virtual address in each state? If you take insurance would you need to credential separately with each virtual address in that respective state?

No clue about this. Sorry!

 

[PikminOC]

What about telepsych practice in multiple states, do you advise getting virtual address in each state? If you take insurance would you need to credential separately with each virtual address in that respective state?

Ask malpractice insurance.

 

[trixter888]

Virtual office with an actual mailing address where they can forward you your mail. Traveling mailbox, UPS store with an actual address, Regus, Anytime Mailbox, Earth Class Mail, subletting even one day a week in an established therapy office (see: craigslist or local psychiatrist's/therapist's newsletters), etc. There are lots of options but you'll definitely not want to use your home address for your business.

So maybe I should not have asked. But when registering for my malpractice insurance they said to BE SURE TO LIST THE ADDRESS WHERE YOU ARE PRACTICING FROM. The guy on the other end made sure I didn't put my UPS Address (which does not show as a PO Box). Unfortunately NPPES also said the same thing. They want an address from where I am practicing from, i.e. my house since I am a tele psychiatrist.

I agree however not wanting to list my personal address, however I am finding it hard to separate the two. An example is the Board of Pharmacy requiring me to link my DEA license to my "place of practice". They said since I practice from home it will have to be linked to my home address.

 

[Mass Effect]

So maybe I should not have asked. But when registering for my malpractice insurance they said to BE SURE TO LIST THE ADDRESS WHERE YOU ARE PRACTICING FROM. The guy on the other end made sure I didn't put my UPS Address (which does not show as a PO Box). Unfortunately NPPES also said the same thing. They want an address from where I am practicing from, i.e. my house since I am a tele psychiatrist.

I agree however not wanting to list my personal address, however I am finding it hard to separate the two. An example is the Board of Pharmacy requiring me to link my DEA license to my "place of practice". They said since I practice from home it will have to be linked to my home address.

100% no. Tell your malpractice they don't know what they're talking about. As a psychiatrist, you cannot disclose your home address. It's just not safe. Use the UPS address and if malpractice doesn't accept that, find a new malpractice company.

 

[liquidshadow22]

100% no. Tell your malpractice they don't know what they're talking about. As a psychiatrist, you cannot disclose your home address. It's just not safe. Use the UPS address and if malpractice doesn't accept that, find a new malpractice company.

Agreed that's ridiculous don't do it

 

[clozareal]

100% no. Tell your malpractice they don't know what they're talking about. As a psychiatrist, you cannot disclose your home address. It's just not safe. Use the UPS address and if malpractice doesn't accept that, find a new malpractice company.

Agreed. This is outdated not to include telepsychiatry and probably for other specialties that are more likely to require a physical exam in person. Tell them that telepsychiatry should NOT be included in this and use your virtual address anyways. If they balk, speak to their supervisor and keep going up the chain. Don't risk yourself revealing your home address on public databases.

 

[trixter888]

Agreed. This is outdated not to include telepsychiatry and probably for other specialties that are more likely to require a physical exam in person. Tell them that telepsychiatry should NOT be included in this and use your virtual address anyways. If they balk, speak to their supervisor and keep going up the chain. Don't risk yourself revealing your home address on public databases.

Shoot thank you. I already paid for a year. I’ll try to call and ask.

What’s challenging though is that the state I am currently in requires me to get a license at my home because I deliver services from there. I don’t know if there is a way around this.

Couldnt the malpractice insurance just disqualify me because I didn’t provide them with the “real address”? That is one of my fears. Btw I am insured by a very popular if not most popular malpractice insurer.

 

[trixter888]

Update: Called malpractice. They informed me all information is not publicly available, so they said not to worry.

My main concern at this point is NPI practice address, because I know 100% that this is publicly available. Also the address I provide to the DEA.

Can anyone chime in who has a private practice run out of their home, what address they provided to the DEA and NPI?

 

[Mass Effect]

Update: Called malpractice. They informed me all information is not publicly available, so they said not to worry.

My main concern at this point is NPI practice address, because I know 100% that this is publicly available. Also the address I provide to the DEA.

Can anyone chime in who has a private practice run out of their home, what address they provided to the DEA and NPI?

I always ask why for every ridiculous rule these people have. Why do they need your home address for malpractice? If they say it's the policy, ask why. If they say it's just the way it is, tell them that's unacceptable and you need an actual reason as to why they will not accept your virtual address. I would not take their word that this isn't made public. It takes only one time for it to be given to the wrong person for it to be all over the place. I just wouldn't take that chance.

 

[Mass Effect]

Update: Called malpractice. They informed me all information is not publicly available, so they said not to worry.

My main concern at this point is NPI practice address, because I know 100% that this is publicly available. Also the address I provide to the DEA.

Can anyone chime in who has a private practice run out of their home, what address they provided to the DEA and NPI?

Can psychiatrists apply for hospital privileges at a local hospital? Like admitting privileges, the way PCPs can? And if so, would it be worth it to do that in order to use the hospital's address?