Every first job starts with the same field: NPI.
Employers, insurance panels, Medicaid and the VA all ask for the NPI at hire. A graduate who does not have one spends the first week of a job offer on a government portal instead of starting.
The graduate applies at NPPES after the offer.A CMS account to create, a multi-page application, usually a few business days. A name that does not match Social Security records can hold it for about 20 days.
The graduate clicks the link in your career-services email.One short form. The NPI arrives by email and text, with all the documentation, usually within 10 minutes. Nothing for the school to do.
Every panel and every platform (Headway, Alma, Rula and the rest) opens with the NPI. Associates and provisional licensees get one too.
VA Community Care, auto injury and workers' compensation claims list the treating provider by NPI.
Medicare and Medicaid enrollment, employer credentialing and e-prescribing all start with it.
Students use 390200000X until licensed. Graduates use their profession's code.
The taxonomy code tells CMS the profession. A student in an accredited program can get an NPI now under the Student code and switch it in NPPES at licensure; the number itself never changes. SimpleNPI enters the code from the license type.
| Program | Code at licensure | NUCC name |
|---|---|---|
| Any program, before licensure | 390200000X | Student in an Organized Health Care Education/Training Program |
| Massage therapy | 225700000X | Massage Therapist |
| Counseling (LPC, LMHC, LCPC) | 101YM0800X | Counselor, Mental Health |
| Marriage and family therapy | 106H00000X | Marriage & Family Therapist |
| Social work (LMSW, then LCSW) | 104100000X then 1041C0700X | Social Worker; Social Worker, Clinical |
| Nursing (RN; NP) | 163W00000X; 363L00000X | Registered Nurse; Nurse Practitioner |
| Physical therapy (PT; PTA) | 225100000X; 225200000X | Physical Therapist; Physical Therapy Assistant |
| Occupational therapy (OT; COTA) | 225X00000X; 224Z00000X | Occupational Therapist; Occupational Therapy Assistant |
| Speech-language pathology | 235Z00000X | Speech-Language Pathologist |
| Dental | 1223G0001X | Dentist, General Practice |
| Physician assistant | 363A00000X | Physician Assistant |
| Dietetics | 133V00000X | Dietitian, Registered |
One link and one sentence, in the email career services already sends.
Forty graduates means forty clicks on the same link. Nobody collects a spreadsheet, nobody uploads a roster, and the link works the same the week licenses post or months later.
https://simplenpi.com/start
Before your first job: get your NPI number. SimpleNPI files it for you for free and your NPI arrives by email and text, with all the documentation, usually within 10 minutes. Start at https://simplenpi.com/start (or apply yourself, also free, at nppes.cms.hhs.gov).
Want your logo on the form as well? Make a branded link, no account needed.
The license number goes on the application, so this is the natural moment for most programs.
Programs whose students need an NPI for clinical rotations or e-prescribing send it earlier; the Student taxonomy covers them.
Same link, same sentence. Nothing to renew.
No. No contract, no data agreement, no cost.
The school adds a link. SimpleNPI is free for the applicant and free for the school, and the applicant can always apply at NPPES instead; the page says so.
What the school does
- Puts the link and the sentence in the career-services emailor on the career page
- Optionally adds the free NPI lookup widgetso graduates can check whether they already have one
- Optionally asks for countshow many started, how many issued; never names
What the school never does
- Collect Social Security numbers or dates of birththe student enters those on simplenpi.com
- Sign a BAA, a contract or an order form
- Pay, or handle supportthe applicant emails us directly
The student enters their own information on simplenpi.com. The school sees nothing and sends nothing.
No education record moves. SimpleNPI never receives a roster, a transcript or a student ID from the school. An adult applies for a federal identifier in their own name, exactly as they would at NPPES.
Name, date of birth and Social Security number are encrypted, used to file the application with CMS, and deleted once it is filed.
Except with CMS, which issues the number. The privacy policy is public.
The NPI is issued to the student, and every email includes the steps to claim their own CMS login.
If you ask how the link is doing, you get how many applications started and issued under your ref. Not who.
Email us the program name. You get the link and the sentence back.
Fifteen minutes on your side, once. Paste it into the email your graduates already get.
How it goes
No contract, no data, no cost. Remove the link at any time.
- Reply with your program and state. We send the link with your ref and the one sentence to put beside it.
- You paste it into the career-services email or the career page.
- Optional: add the free lookup widget or a button from simplenpi.com/embed.
- Ask any time for counts under your ref.
info@simplenpi.comSubject "Graduation packet" and your organization's name is enough.