Items to check before contacting the Department if you cannot find a covered recipient on the Covered Recipient List

•	The Covered Recipient List CSV file is over 250,000 rows. Due to its size, some programs (such as older versions of Excel) will not display the full contents of this file. If you encounter this problem, the file can instead be opened with a database program such as Microsoft Access, or a simple text editor such as Notepad. 

•	Only entities licensed in Massachusetts are covered recipients under the regulation; thus, only Massachusetts-licensed entities appear in the covered recipient list. If you cannot find a professional in the list, you should first verify that the person is licensed in Massachusetts. The best method of doing this to ask the person themselves about their license status. However, Massachusetts also provides two online resources to check the license status of most health professionals:

•	For Physicians, go to the Board of Registration in Medicine website to check license status: http://profiles.massmedboard.org/MA-Physician-Profile-Find-Doctor.asp
•	For all other health professionals (including nurses, pharmacists, and dentists), go to the Division of Health Professions Licensure website to check license status: https://licensecheck.hhs.state.ma.us/mylicenseverification/

•	The definition of a covered recipient is very specific. In the past, we have received questions on several entities that are not considered covered recipients in regards to this regulation. Below is a list of entities that are not covered recipients (please note: simply being one of the below classifications does not preclude the entity from being a covered recipient for other reasons): 

•	Academic Institutions: Schools and universities are not covered recipients. However, teaching hospitals are covered recipients, as they are hospitals, which are considered covered recipients.
•	Trade Organizations, Conference Organizers, and Non-Profit Charitable Organizations: Unless they are covered recipients for other reasons (such as a non-profit hospital, which is a covered recipient by virtue of being a hospital) these entities are not covered recipients. 
•	Corporations and other business structures: Corporations are not covered recipients; however, corporations may own an entity that is a covered recipient. For example, a corporation that owns a hospital; payments made to the hospital would need to be attributed to the hospital, and not the corporation. 

If you are still having trouble finding a covered recipient on the list, please send an email to the following address: Pharmameddata@massmail.state.ma.us