What Should a Practice Do When Its NPI Record Is Correct but AI Still Cites an Old Directory?

Why does AI keep citing the old directory?

• Directories rank well. Provider directories have thousands of structured pages, strong links and clear fields for address, phone and specialty. They are exactly what search-based assistants look for.
• They copy on a delay. Many NPI lookup sites republish the national NPI data files. CMS publishes a full file monthly and incremental files weekly, and each site refreshes on its own timetable, or not at all.
• They draw on other records. A directory may take your address from Medicare enrollment, a health plan, a credentialing database or its own past data, not from your NPI record.
• Your own site is less specific. If your location page gives the address only in a map or an image, the directory's text is the clearest source available.

Directory errors are common. In its third review of Medicare Advantage online provider directories, reported in 2018, CMS found that 48.74% of provider locations listed had at least one inaccuracy.

Where does each directory get its data?

What do the rules require?

• NPI records: covered health care providers must report changes to their required NPI data within 30 days of the change. That covers your NPI record, not anyone else's copy of it.
• Health plan directories: under the No Surprises Act, plans must verify directory information at least every 90 days. They must update the directory within two business days of receiving new information, and remove providers they cannot verify. Providers must submit information when a network agreement starts or ends, and when information materially changes.
• Credentialing profiles: many plans draw on CAQH ProView, which requires providers to re-attest their profile every 120 days to keep it available to plans.

These rules explain why updating one record rarely fixes every directory. Each has its own owner and schedule.

What should you do, step by step?

1. Record the wrong answer and every directory it cites, with dates.
2. Identify each directory's type using the table above.
3. Check your upstream records: NPI, Medicare enrollment, each plan you are contracted with, your credentialing profile, and your state licence record. Correct any that are out of date.
4. Claim and edit consumer directory profiles. Most let practices or clinicians claim a profile and change address, phone and hours.
5. Contact NPI lookup sites that remain stale after their next expected refresh. Give them your NPI and the correct details. Some have a correction form; others only refresh from the national file.
6. Ask for old listings to be removed where a directory shows a location you no longer use. Asking it to add the new one is not enough.
7. Strengthen your own pages: each location needs its own page with the address, phone, hours, clinicians and NPI in text, and matching structured data.
8. Update your Google Business Profile and close any profile for a location you left.
9. Retest monthly until answers cite the correct source.

How to check whether a correction has taken hold is covered in how to tell whether an AI error was corrected or is still appearing.

How long should each fix take?

A practice that moved on 1 March and updated its NPI record on 10 March might still see NPI lookup sites showing the old address into April. Plan directories that were never notified can stay wrong for months. That gap is when AI answers keep citing the old address. How assistants treat outdated information as current is covered in why AI search uses outdated information as if it were current.

What should your location pages say?

• The practice name and full address in text, with the suite or floor.
• The phone number, hours and the clinicians who practise there.
• The NPI of the practice and, where appropriate, of the clinicians.
• Insurance plans accepted, if you list them, updated whenever contracts change.
• For a practice that moved, a short note on the old location page, or a redirect to the new one: "We moved to [new address] in March 2026."

Give each location its own URL, and link to it from your home and contact pages.

How do you test what assistants say?

Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, several times each:

• "Where is [practice] located?"
• "What is Dr. [Name]'s office address?"
• "[Practice] phone number"
• "Does [practice] take [plan]?"
• "[Specialty] near [new area]"

Record the address given and the source cited. A directory that keeps appearing is the one to chase next.

What might an illustrative case look like?

Consider an illustrative dermatology practice that moved across town and updated its NPI record within a week. Two months later, assistants still gave the old address, citing an NPI lookup site and a health plan directory. The lookup site was months behind the national file. The plan had never been told of the move, and the practice's credentialing profile still showed the old address. The practice updated its credentialing profile and re-attested, notified all six plans, and claimed three consumer directory profiles. It contacted the lookup site and added a location page with the address in text. Within six weeks, most answers gave the new address, citing the practice's own page and a consumer directory.

What do people ask about NPI records and directories?

Does updating our NPI record update every directory?

No. It updates your NPI record and the sites that copy it, when they next refresh. Other directories have their own sources.

Which directory should we fix first?

The one AI answers cite most often, then the health plan directories your patients use.

Should we list our NPI on our website?

It helps assistants and patients match your practice to the right records, and the number is already public.