When a provider is placed on the HHS-OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE), they are barred from participating in federal health care programs. However, the CMS NPPES registry does not automatically deactivate the provider's NPI. The result is a common cross-agency disagreement: the same NPI reads EXCLUDED on the LEIE and ACTIVE in NPPES at the same time.
This matters for payers, health systems, and credentialing teams: billing, paying, or employing a provider while an OIG exclusion is in force can trigger civil monetary penalties — even though the active NPI itself is expected. The active NPI is not evidence the exclusion is wrong; it simply means the two registries serve different purposes. Verify the exclusion is current on the OIG site and confirm the NPI identity before relying on either record.
GRC Feed detects this exact-NPI disagreement automatically. Screen an NPI →