UPIN

A unique physician identification number, or UPIN, is used by Medicare to identify doctors across the United States. UPINs are six-place alpha numeric identifiers assigned to all physicians.

The United States Congress authorized the creation of UPIN IDs through Section 9202 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for creation of the UPIN IDs for each doctor accepting Medicare insurance.

A directory of UPINs is available from the UPIN Registry, as required by Section 4164 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985.

UPINs will be discontinued in the second quarter of 2007 and will replaced by National Provider Identifier, or NPI numbers.