North Carolina medical license lookup
The license itself is verified on the North Carolina Medical Board search, not by CMS or any directory. 200,340 registry records list a practice address in North Carolina, and not all of them hold a state license. Search the provider's name there to see license status, expiration and any public orders.
Open the North Carolina license search →North Carolina Medical Board
Physicians, physician assistants and other professions licensed by the North Carolina Medical Board.
Verify a North Carolina provider in five checks
- 1IdentityNPI record in CMS NPPESNPI lookupStart here
- 2LicenseActive license and public ordersNorth Carolina Medical Board searchCheck the board
- 3Other statesLicenses and actions elsewhereDocInfo (FSMB)Not checked
- 4ExclusionsMedicare and Medicaid bansHHS-OIG exclusion listNot checked
- 5CertificationBoard certificationABMS AOA NCCPA AANPNot checked
1,838 people and businesses in North Carolina are barred from Medicare and Medicaid
North Carolina has the 13th most entries on the federal exclusion list among the 50 states and D.C. Per resident, it has 17.0 per 100,000, against 25.0 for the 50 states and D.C.: the 41st highest of 51.
Exclusion list entries per 100,000 residents
Source: HHS-OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE), file of Sep 10, 2026 (oig.hhs.gov); 2023 Census population estimates (census.gov).
Who holds a North Carolina registry record
200,340 NPPES records list a practice address in North Carolina. 24% report no credential at all, which is why the board search, not the registry, is the license record. A record that lists several credentials counts in each row.
Source: CMS NPPES, file of Aug 9, 2026, by reported credential text (NPPES files on CMS.gov).
Which North Carolina search to use, by profession
The North Carolina Medical Board licenses physicians; nurses, pharmacists and dentists are licensed by other boards, so a nurse practitioner searched on the medical board returns nothing. That is not a warning sign: search the right board.
- Physicians (MD, DO) and physician assistantsThe North Carolina Medical Board search
- Nurses (RN, LPN, NP)Not the medical board: the North Carolina Board of Nursing, or Nursys QuickConfirm for any state
- Pharmacists and dentistsSeparate boards: the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy and the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners
No NPI yet? Find the provider first
Common questions
Is the North Carolina license search free?
Yes. The North Carolina Medical Board publishes its license search at no charge. It shows license status, license number and expiration, and board actions the board has made public.
Does an NPI prove a provider is licensed?
No. An NPI is an identifier CMS issues for billing. It is not a license and does not confirm board certification. Check the state board search for the license itself.
Does the North Carolina search show malpractice payments?
It depends on the board, so open one profile on the North Carolina Medical Board search and read its fields. Some boards list malpractice judgments or settlements on the licensee profile; many list only license status and public board actions. The full payment history is in the National Practitioner Data Bank, which is not open to the public for individual lookups.
License lookup in other states
Source: the official link was checked on Sep 25, 2026 (license search, opened); CMS NPPES NPI Registry (npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov); North Carolina Medical Board. PlainDoctor is not a primary-source verifier.
Figures on PlainDoctor are read from the federal files each page names (CMS NPPES, Medicare Part D, MIPS, Open Payments; the HHS-OIG exclusion list only as counts) and from Census population estimates, with the file date shown beside them. The board link above carries its own check date. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of Aug 9, 2026.