Provider Enrollment

A Medicare provider number (Provider Transaction Access Number, or PTAN) may be deactivated for a variety of reasons (e.g., no claims received for a period of time or the provider has requested that an old billing number be terminated). If you need to reactivate a PTAN that has been deactivated, refer to the following list to determine which application form to submit.

• Individual Provider — complete the CMS-855I application
• Group Member — complete both the CMS-855I and the CMS-855R applications
• Group or Organization — complete the CMS-855B application. Note that reactivating a group PTAN does not automatically reactivate the group members that are reassigned to that group. To reactivate PTANs for individual providers associated with a deactivated group, complete CMS-855I applications for the individuals.

Last Reviewed: 9/12/2023

• Providers may consider collapsing their Provider Transaction Account Numbers (PTANs) by rolling all of their PTANs into one number so there will be a one-to-one National Provider Identifier (NPI) PTAN match in the system. Not all providers are able to collapse. Therefore, requests to collapse will be referred to our Provider Enrollment area to see if you are eligible to collapse your PTANs. Providers who choose to not collapse will continue to get development letters whenever new claims are submitted.
• CMS is aware of the issues that have been created by the use of NPI only and, along with the Medicare contractors, is looking at improvements to assist our system in selecting the appropriate PTAN when there is not a one-to-one match
• Until enhancements or provider file changes have been completed, providers must return the development letters to ensure that their claims will not be rejected

Last Reviewed: 9/12/2023