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CMS NPPESCMS NPPES NPI Registry
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · Tier-2 · profile-enrichment (renders on matched profiles)
The National Provider Identifier (NPI) Registry is CMS's federal directory of healthcare providers and organizations. It is the canonical source for the 10-digit identifier used on HIPAA-covered claims and most commercial insurance billing.
How this source shows up on Fonteum.
We match dermatology and chiropractic practice listings to NPPES records and surface the NPI, taxonomy code, taxonomy description, and NPI enumeration date on the profile. Each value carries source attribution + last-checked date + the §95 limitations sentence.
What this source does NOT mean
NPI records identify healthcare providers and organizations; they do not indicate quality, outcomes, or board certification. Confirm current credentials with the relevant state medical board or the ABMS / AOA registries.
Per-field display contract.
Every field below has a `display_allowed` flag in the §94 provenance schema. Write-locked fields are captured to provenance for audit but never rendered on profile pages.
Renders on profile
4 fieldsWrite-locked — captured to provenance, not displayed
1 fieldWhat we can’t infer from this source.
- An NPI is an identifier, not a quality measurement.
- Inactive providers may retain an NPI for years after retirement; Fonteum's 6-month re-check cadence catches most lapses but not all.
- Taxonomy codes are self-reported by providers at NPI enumeration time and may be out of date.
- Not every NPPES record carries a current address; Fonteum uses the Practice Location Address when present.
- Fonteum does not write match rows below 0.75 confidence; ambiguous matches (top-2 within 0.05 + both ≥ 0.75) are suppressed entirely.
Authority, license, refresh cadence.
Authority
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Tier
Tier-2 · profile-enrichment (renders on matched profiles)
Refresh cadence
Every 180 days (CMS publishes daily; Fonteum re-checks per practice on a 6-month cycle).
License
U.S. government public-domain data — free to use with attribution.
Official URL
Attribution requirement
Source: CMS NPPES · Last checked {YYYY-MM-DD}
What the source allows.
U.S. government public-domain works (https://www.usa.gov/government-works). Free to redistribute with attribution. No commercial-use restrictions; the only ToS-equivalent ask is that downstream consumers cite NPPES as the source. Bulk download is provided as the canonical CSV at the NPI Registry.
What a single field looks like in the graph.
A worked example. Every field surfaced from this source carries this shape of provenance line — source · last checked · display rule · confidence (when applicable).
Field
NPI (10-digit identifier)
Sample value
1063717142
Provenance line
Source: CMS NPPES · Last checked 2026-04-22 · Display rule: surface verbatim · Confidence: 0.91
Where this source already shows up.
Research studies citing this source
Verticals where this source renders today
- dermatologists
- chiropractors
- /sources → The full source library — every dataset Fonteum cites.
- /data-provenance → The provider graph — pipeline diagram, source-family clusters, field-level provenance examples, display rules.
- /methodology → Network-wide sourcing, refresh cadence, and corrections policy.
- /editorial-policy → Independence, sourcing, conflicts, corrections, retractions.
Compliance posture
We don’t sell ranking and don’t accept payment to move a provider up the list. For final hire decisions, verify licensing, insurance, and references directly with the applicable licensing or credentialing body.
No bulk-licensing source family is currently ingested for this vertical. Hire-time checking still routes through the body named above.