What Does PASUP Mean After a Provider’s Name?

This question is one of the most searched topics from the CCO Community archive, so we refreshed it with current guidance.

The short answer

PASUP (sometimes written PA-SUP) is not a nationally standardized medical credential. It most often shows up as a local label in an EHR, a credentialing roster, or a signature line, usually to mark a physician assistant role or a supervising relationship. Because there is no national definition, you should never assume what it means. Verify it.

Why the credential matters to coders

The provider’s actual license and type affect several coding and billing decisions:

• Who can be the rendering provider on the claim and which NPI goes in that field.
• Whether a service can be billed under a supervising physician (for example, incident-to rules for Medicare) or must be billed under the non-physician practitioner.
• Whether a diagnosis from that encounter is acceptable for risk adjustment, which depends on the payer’s accepted provider types and a face-to-face encounter.
• Whether the signature and authentication meet the payer’s documentation requirements.

How to verify an unfamiliar credential

1. Look up the provider in the NPPES NPI Registry. The record shows the entity type, the provider’s self-reported credential text, and the taxonomy (specialty) code. CMS notes that the NPI itself carries no information about provider type, so the taxonomy is the part to read (CMS NPI Standard).
2. Check the state licensing board for the license type and status.
3. Ask your credentialing or provider enrollment team what the label means in your organization’s system.
4. If the record itself is unclear, send a compliant query instead of guessing.

Bottom line

Treat unfamiliar letters after a name as a question, not an answer. Confirm the license and taxonomy, then apply the billing and supervision rules for that provider type.

For more credential definitions, see the CCO Healthcare Credentials Reference.

Refreshed from the CCO Community archive, November 2026.