# Supplier, not provider

A term used when buying urgent care center.

Why nothing certified passes to the buyer, and why no survey follows the sale.

The federal rules name every entity that may hold a Medicare provider agreement, and freestanding urgent care is not among them: hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospices, critical access hospitals and a short list of others. A center is therefore a supplier, so there is no agreement to assign, no certification survey to repeat, and no [plan of correction](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/plan-of-correction) to inherit. What there is instead is an enrollment: a [change of ownership](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/change-of-ownership) that changes the tax identification number requires a new application from the new owner, and the billing number itself may not be sold. A national provider identifier is a different matter, since it attaches to the entity and survives while the entity does.

Part of: Buying an Urgent Care Center (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-urgent-care-center)

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-urgent-care-center/terms/supplier-not-provider
Not dated: The same editorial definitions as the glossary, inside a trade.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt