Beginning March 1, 2009, all providers submitting claims to Medicaid via the 837 and Direct Data Entry formats will need to designate the “Pay-to-Provider Payee” by National Provider Identifier (“NPI”) number and not by the one-digit payee code, as previously required. Providers using paper claim forms, however, will continue to designate payees by the payee code. For information on this change, view the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ Information Notice at:

http://www.hfs.illinois.gov/assets/101408npi.pdf. If you need any information on obtaining an NPI number, please contact us.