Doctors and health care providers in Howard, SD

Howard, South Dakota appears in the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System with 18 registered healthcare providers spanning 10 distinct NUCC-taxonomy specialties. This count includes every individual clinician who has applied for an NPI and listed a practice address in Howard - physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chiropractors, physical therapists, optometrists, psychologists, podiatrists, and every other credentialed provider type CMS tracks. It does not measure hospital beds, urgent-care capacity, or whether a given clinic is accepting new patients; it measures the pool of professionals with current NPI enrollment and a Howard practice location on file. Every figure is drawn from the federal National Provider Identifier Registry (CMS NPPES) - more than 7 million providers, maintained since May 2007, with 2024 Medicare Part D data, and, according to CMS, can be searched, compared, and traced in our methodology.

The provider mix in Howard is weighted toward Physical Therapist (4 clinicians, followed by General Practice Dentistry with 4 and Physician Assistant with 2). That distribution reflects how NPPES records specialty: providers self-select a primary taxonomy code, so a family physician who also practices geriatrics will show up under whichever NUCC code they registered first. Relative to South Dakota's population, Howard reports roughly 2 providers per 100,000 residents using the state-level denominator, which is a rough proxy rather than a precise access-to-care measurement; the true catchment area of any {cityName} clinician extends beyond the municipal boundary.

Of South Dakota's most common specialties, Mental Health Counselor is the most prominent one with no provider currently listing a Howard practice address, a coverage gap Howard patients typically fill by traveling to a larger nearby hub.

For Howard patients, this directory is most useful as a starting shortlist. Important: PlainDoctor is a directory of publicly available CMS government data, not a review site, a ranking, or medical advice. NPPES data is self-reported and refreshed monthly; call the practice directly to confirm the provider is still there, accepts your insurance, and is taking new patients.