NPI · shortage areas · FHIR R4
- active providers
CMS NPPES
National NPI + specialty
active providers (8.9M total NPI records) keyed by NPI, with NUCC taxonomy code, entity type, and practice address. The single national registry — no state-by-state stitching — which is what a telehealth platform routing across jurisdictions needs to confirm a clinician's identity and specialty.
- HPSA + MUA/MUP designations
HRSA HPSA + shortage areas
Care-gap routing signal
HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area designations — primary care, dental, and mental health — unified with Medically Underserved Area / Population (MUA/MUP) data. The federal map of where provider supply is thin, so a telehealth network can prioritize routing into the geographies that need remote coverage most.
- 5 USCDI v3 resources
FHIR R4 US Core 6.1.0
Cross-jurisdiction API
5 distinct USCDI v3 Provider resources — Practitioner, PractitionerRole, Organization, Location, HealthcareService — over one national surface. SMART Backend Services auth for system-to-system integration. The CapabilityStatement at /api/fhir/metadata is the discovery entry point. One of the documented federal-source catalog behind it.
One national identity layer — auditable to the source
NPI as a national, cross-jurisdiction identifier
The NPI identifies a record enumerated through NPPES, and it supports a deterministic join only where another source supplies the same identifier. It does not resolve state licensure or authority to practice; cross-state telehealth still requires the relevant state records.
Shortage areas as a routing signal
Telehealth's strongest fit is where provider supply is thinnest. Fonteum publishes HRSA designations for primary care, dental, and mental health alongside MUA/MUP data, so a network can prioritize remote capacity toward the geographies a federal designation marks as underserved. Pairing that map with the NPPES provider graph shows both where the gap is and which clinicians can fill it — joined from federal primary sources, not a commercial coverage estimate.
Integrity screening built into the lookup
Fonteum's exclusion check covers OIG LEIE, SAM.gov, and supported loaded state Medicaid lists. An exact NPI match is possible only where a list publishes that identifier; other records require separate name-based matching with its own limitations. The other states are not covered, and a no-match is not a clearance. State licensure must be checked with the relevant state authority.
From federal portal to routed encounter
Ingest
Publisher cadence and loaded dates are separate. In the July 12 production audit, NPPES had a June 10, 2026 newest system date and OIG LEIE had a May 8 source date. HRSA records must be read with the observation date supplied by the selected response; cadence alone does not prove a completed load.
Provenance
Source, observation-date, and limitation metadata is exposed where populated. Those fields are nullable and vary by endpoint; a missing value does not establish a completed source check or signature linkage.
Deliver
Provider and shortage-area data is available at /research, /providers, and the /data surfaces, through the FHIR R4 surface, semantic search, and bulk export. Scoped pilot exports start at $2,500/mo; source metadata varies by record.
Common questions
- How does Fonteum support provider lookup for a telehealth platform?
- Fonteum exposes CMS NPPES — the national registry of — with available NUCC taxonomy, enumeration type, and submitted practice-address fields. The NPI identifies an enumerated individual or organization nationally, but it does not establish licensure, credentialing, or authority to practice in any state. Cross-state telehealth checks still require the relevant state licensing sources.
- How can telehealth platforms use HRSA shortage-area data for routing?
- HRSA designates for primary care, dental, and mental health, and separately designates Medically Underserved Areas and Populations. Fonteum exposes loaded shortage-area records for routing analysis. Source, designation-date, and limitation fields vary by response; inspect the selected record before relying on it.
- What does cross-jurisdiction provider validation mean here?
- A telehealth encounter can cross state lines, so NPI provides a national identifier where another source publishes the same NPI. Fonteum joins available NPPES, PECOS, OIG, SAM, and supported loaded state Medicaid-list records; the other states are not covered. Source metadata varies by field and response, and an NPI does not establish state licensure or authority to practice.
- Does Fonteum offer a FHIR R4 API for telehealth integrations?
- Fonteum exposes Practitioner, PractitionerRole, Organization, Location, and HealthcareService resources through its FHIR R4 surface, plus an NDJSON bulk-export workflow. Source and observation metadata varies by resource and field; the CapabilityStatement does not establish universal provenance or current coverage.
- How current is the provider data telehealth platforms rely on?
- Publisher cadence and Fonteum's loaded date are separate. On July 12, 2026, the NPPES serving table's newest system timestamp was June 10 and OIG LEIE carried a May 8 source date. The /sources and /freshness pages show declared cadence and available observations; neither is a promise that a scheduled ingest completed.
- Is the data free, and what does the pilot tier add?
- Public provider and shortage-area records are available through Fonteum's public pages and documented APIs. The scoped pilot tier, starting at $2,500/mo, adds custom exports and integration support. Source and observation metadata is included where the selected response supplies it; it is not universal.
Request a provider-data pilot.
Scope an NPPES + HPSA export for your specialties and geographies. Free public data at /providers and /data/hrsa-hpsa-shortage-areas. Pilot tier from $2,500/mo.
- /data/hrsa-hpsa-shortage-areas → HRSA HPSA primary-care, dental, and mental-health shortage areas.
- /data/hrsa-mua-mup → Medically Underserved Areas and Populations.
- /docs/fhir → FHIR R4 US Core 6.1.0 endpoint reference and CapabilityStatement.
- /use-cases/patient-portals → Provider profiles with available source metadata for find-a-doctor surfaces.