The definition of a business in the MEDI System is different than what you would normally think of as a business in the physical sense. While you may work for a business at a particular address, in the MEDI System, a business is not related to where you work.
Instead, a business is defined as a relationship with HFS. Medicaid providers, payors and payees establish a relationship with HFS at the time of enrollment. This relationship is defined by an identification number, which is assigned by HFS.
A business in the MEDI System is defined differently in each of the four business categories.
Medicaid Provider - During provider enrollment, each Medicaid provider is assigned a provider identification number by HFS. Each provider identification number issued by HFS is considered a separate business.
Payee - Each enrolled Medicaid provider must establish a payee to which benefits will be remitted. In addition, a provider may also establish alternate payees. Each payee established is assigned a payee identification number. And each payee identification number issued by HFS is considered a separate business.
Other Government Payor - An agreement will be negotiated between HFS and the other government payor (OGP), at which time the OGP will be assigned a 3-character identifier. Each OGP identifier issued by HFS is considered a separate business.
Other Business - Because HFS does not currently have established relationships with businesses in this category, the MEDI System will create new HFS ID Numbers for each new registration. Since these identifiers are created at the time of registration in the MEDI System, it will be up to the person registering to determine when a new business should be created.
You are allowed to register as more than one business, regardless of which definition you use. Review the Multiple Business Registrations topic for more information.