Overview
Dataset Summary
The National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) is a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-maintained registry of National Provider Identifiers (NPIs).
NPPES provides comprehensive, publicly available data on healthcare providers and organizations assigned NPIs in the United States. Key strengths include accessibility, national scope, and the ability to link NPIs to other datasets (e.g., claims or quality data) to enrich information on clinician characteristics, specialties, and practice patterns. The dataset is widely used for workforce analyses and provider-level research.
Caveats
- Information is largely self-reported and may contain inaccuracies or inconsistencies.
- Non-standardized reporting among advanced practice clinicians may limit specialty classification.
- Data for deactivated NPIs may be incomplete or removed.
- Older historical versions of the dataset can be difficult to access.
Examples of Outcomes Examined
- Provider characteristics (e.g., location, taxonomy codes)
- Specialty designation (when linked to other datasets)
- Workforce distribution and density
- Practice setting characteristics
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