NPI registry status
Active
2026 NPPES data Anesthesiology Physician NPI 1689628117 MD
Verify on CMS → Ashar Afzal, MD
Anesthesiology Physician in Waterloo, Iowa.
This profile is drawn from the federal National Provider Identifier Registry (CMS NPPES), which lists more than 7 million U.S. healthcare providers - including 57,554 in Anesthesiology Physician, and covers specialty classification, practice address, and Medicare Part D prescribing data when reported. According to CMS, every field reflects the provider's official federal registration, see our methodology.
Federal data, no proprietary rating.
We show these CMS records as-is - no composite score, no star rating, no editorial opinion layered on top.
Prescribing volume
1K
Medicare Part D claims · 315 beneficiaries · Anesthesiology Physician avg: 823
Industry payments
$48.23
2 payments · CMS Open Payments (Sunshine Act)
What the federal data shows
Ashar Afzal, MD filed 1,479 Medicare Part D claims in 2024 as an Anesthesiology Physician in Waterloo, Iowa.
- 1K
- Part D claims, 2024
- Likely
- board-certified (heuristic)
- ≥80th
- pct by Part D claim volume (lower-bound band)
Every figure on this page comes straight from federal CMS records (NPPES, Medicare Part D, MIPS, Open Payments) - no proprietary rating or editorial opinion is applied.
Federal trust snapshot
What official records show about Ashar Afzal, MD
Federal records show an active NPI with Medicare Part D prescribing activity — verifiable registry data, not a proprietary rating.
- Verified
NPI registry status
Active listing in the CMS National Provider Identifier Registry (NPI 1689628117), first enumerated 05/20/2006.
Source: CMS NPPES
- Reported
Medicare Part D participation
Filed 1,479 Medicare Part D prescription claims in the 2023 CMS public use file — indicates active Medicare prescribing participation.
Source: CMS Part D Prescriber PUF
- Reported
Board certification signal
Heuristic suggests board-certified status based on ABMS-eligible specialty taxonomy plus active CMS participation signals — not a direct ABMS verification.
- Reported
Hospital affiliations
1 CMS Care Compare hospital affiliation on record — practice footprint from the Doctors and Clinicians file.
Source: CMS Care Compare
- Reported
Industry payment transparency
$48.23 in reported industry payments (2 transfers) in 2024 under the federal Sunshine Act — disclosed transfers of value, not a quality rating.
Source: CMS Open Payments
- Not in federal data
Individual sanction lookup
PlainDoctor does not publish per-provider disciplinary determinations. Confirm current license and any individual actions through the state medical board or FSMB verification service.
Source: State medical board / FSMB
This trust snapshot summarizes only what appears in federal CMS/NPPES public records. It is not a composite score, star rating, patient review, or clinical recommendation. PlainDoctor never fabricates reviews or AggregateRating schema.
CMS NPPES provider registry desk
NPI 1689628117 · Anesthesiology Physician
NPI-10 · ENUM-LEGACY · TAX-MEGA · RX-MID · BOOK-LIGHT · PHOTO-ENUM
- NPI-10 1689628117
- ENUM-LEGACY 2006
- TAX-MEGA 58K Anesthesiology Physician
- RX-MID 1,479
- BOOK-LIGHT 557 in Iowa
- PHOTO-ENUM Thomas Quinn, MD · 2006
Ashar Afzal, MD's Medicare Part D volume vs every U.S. prescriber
Total Medicare Part D claims, 2024, across all CMS prescribers nationally
1,479 ≥ 80th percentile 80% of 1,416,883 prescribers are in lower value bands
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more prescribers. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
The percentile is a conservative 100-claim band: it counts only prescribers in lower claim-volume bands. Medicare Part D claim volume is activity context, not a quality measure or recommendation. See methodology § corpus placement.
Source CMS Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File · 2024
✓
Board certification likely (heuristic, not verified)
Ashar Afzal, MD practices in an ABMS-board-eligible specialty and shows active CMS Medicare participation + 1 hospital affiliation - signals consistent with board-certified status. For verified board certification, see CertificationMatters.org (the official ABMS public lookup).
What does the federal data show about Ashar Afzal, MD?
Quality data not reportedPrimary specialty
Anesthesiology Physician
Medicare Part D claims
1,479 80% vs specialty avg
Specialty distribution in Iowa
How Anesthesiology Physician compares to other specialties among Iowa providers
Board certification
Not published by CMS
CMS does not publish a per-provider board-certification field in NPPES. PlainDoctor does not have a reliable per-specialty certification rate to show for Anesthesiology Physician. Verify directly:
How MIPS and board certification work
The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) scores providers 0–100 across four performance categories: Quality, Cost, Promoting Interoperability, and Improvement Activities, weighted under 42 CFR §414.1380. Reporting is voluntary for many small practices, so absence of a MIPS score is not a quality signal.
Board certification through an ABMS or AOA member board signals voluntary post-licensure examination plus continuous Maintenance of Certification cycles. Verify any individual provider's status through certificationmatters.org (ABMS) or osteopathic.org (AOA).
Practice Address
Provider Details
| NPI | 1689628117 |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Anesthesiology Physician |
| Credentials | MD |
| Gender | Male |
| NPI Issued | 05/20/2006 |
Hospital and facility affiliations
Facilities where Ashar Afzal, MD bills Medicare from. Star ratings (1-5) are CMS Hospital Compare's "Hospital overall rating" - a composite of mortality, readmission, patient experience, safety, timely care, and efficient use of medical imaging measures. Source: CMS Care Compare.
Cedar Valley Medical Specialists PC
Waterloo, IA
Affiliations sourced from CMS Doctors and Clinicians National Downloadable File; hospital ratings from CMS Hospital General Information dataset (cross-referenced by facility name + state).
Industry payments received (2024) - CMS Open Payments transparency data
The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act (part of the Affordable Care Act) requires drug and medical-device manufacturers + group purchasing organizations to publicly report payments and other transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals. The data below covers 2024 for Ashar Afzal, MD. Source: openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
Total received
$48
Largest payer
Abbott Laboratories
Most common payment type
Food and Beverage
Industry payments are not necessarily indicators of bias, they include research funding, consulting fees for evidence-based work, royalties for inventions, food at conferences, and similar items. The disclosure exists for transparency. Read our methodology for how we interpret this data.
Medicare Part D Prescribing Data
CMS Medicare Part D prescriber-level data for calendar year 2024.
1,479
Total Claims
$26K
Total Drug Cost
315
Medicare Beneficiaries
Prescribing Breakdown
- 30-Day Fills
- 1,566.467
- Total Day Supply
- 37,125
- Generic Drug Cost
- $25K
- Opioid Claims
- 804 (54.4% rate)
- Antibiotic Claims
- 13
Patient Demographics
- Average Patient Age
- 73.4 years
- Avg HCC Risk Score
- 1.51
- Gender Split
- 61% female / 39% male
- Age Distribution
- <65: 42, 65-74: 129, 75-84: 106, 85+: 38
Top Prescribed Drugs (Medicare Part D)
Top drugs by claim count for calendar year 2024. Based on Medicare Part D data only.
What Ashar Afzal, MD prescribes most
Top Medicare Part D drugs by claim count, 2024
- Hydrocodone-Acetam…
Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen
358 claims
- Gabapentin
Gabapentin
208 claims
- Oxycodone-Acetamin…
Oxycodone-Acetaminophen
157 claims
- Tramadol Hcl
Tramadol Hcl
152 claims
- Tizanidine Hcl 86
Tizanidine Hcl
86 claims
- Fentanyl 70
Fentanyl
70 claims
- Duloxetine Hcl 64
Duloxetine Hcl
64 claims
- Pregabalin 52
Pregabalin
52 claims
| Drug | Claims |
|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 358 |
| Gabapentin | 208 |
| Oxycodone-Acetaminophen Oxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 157 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 152 |
| Tizanidine Hcl | 86 |
| Fentanyl | 70 |
| Duloxetine Hcl | 64 |
| Pregabalin | 52 |
| Baclofen | 42 |
| Celecoxib | 37 |
* Counts below 11 are suppressed by CMS for patient privacy. Generic names shown where available from CMS Part D data.
Anesthesiology Physician Overview
How Ashar Afzal, MD fits within the Anesthesiology Physician landscape nationally.
57,554
Anesthesiology Physician Providers in US
56
States with Anesthesiology Physician
823
Avg Claims per Provider
Ashar Afzal, MD's 1,479 claims are above the specialty average of 823.
Nationwide Anesthesiology Physician peers with similar MIPS or enrollment year
Two federal-record peer sets for Afzal, both outside Iowa so the neighborhoods are not geographic containment.
Same NPPES enumeration year (2006)
Same-specialty clinicians who entered the NPI registry in the same calendar year, outside this state.
Nearby Anesthesiology Physician Providers in Iowa
Other clinicians with the same primary specialty enrolled in Iowa, drawn from the same CMS NPPES roster as Afzal.
One of 557 Anesthesiology Physician providers enrolled in Iowa, 5 are shown here.
Dr. Helena Aaberg
MD
Iowa City, IA
Dr. Shivon Abdullah
MD
Davenport, IA
Dr. Ron Abrons
M.D.
Iowa City, IA
Dr. Romano Adajar
MD
Sioux City, IA
Dr. Biodun Adeniyi
MD
Iowa City, IA
Compare Anesthesiology Physician nationally: see state-by-state distribution →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ashar Afzal, MD's specialty? ▼
Ashar Afzal, MD specializes in Anesthesiology Physician and practices in Waterloo, Iowa. Credentials: MD.
How much does Ashar Afzal, MD prescribe under Medicare Part D? ▼
In 2024, Ashar Afzal, MD wrote 1,479 Medicare Part D claims totaling $26K in drug costs for 315 beneficiaries.
Where is Ashar Afzal, MD located? ▼
Ashar Afzal, MD is located at 3254 KIMBALL AVE, Waterloo, IA, 50702. Phone: (319) 235-7246.
What is Ashar Afzal, MD's NPI number? ▼
Ashar Afzal, MD's National Provider Identifier (NPI) is 1689628117, issued on 05/20/2006.
Does Ashar Afzal, MD prescribe opioids? ▼
Yes, Ashar Afzal, MD had 804 opioid claims in 2024 with an opioid prescribing rate of 54.4%.
How many Anesthesiology Physician providers are there in the US? ▼
There are 57,554 Anesthesiology Physician providers across 56 states in the US. The average Anesthesiology Physician provider writes 823 Medicare Part D claims per year.
What drugs does Ashar Afzal, MD prescribe most often? ▼
Based on 2024 Medicare Part D data, Ashar Afzal, MD's most frequently prescribed drugs include Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen, Gabapentin, Oxycodone-Acetaminophen. This reflects Medicare Part D prescriptions only and does not include commercial insurance or other payer types.
Does Ashar Afzal, MD accept Medicare? ▼
Ashar Afzal, MD appears in CMS Medicare data with 1,479 Part D claims and 315 Medicare beneficiaries in 2024. Contact the provider's office directly to confirm current Medicare enrollment and accepted plans.
How can I verify Ashar Afzal, MD's credentials? ▼
Ashar Afzal, MD's NPI is 1689628117 with credentials MD. You can verify this through the NPPES NPI Registry, check state medical board records, and confirm board certification through the ABMS or AOA.
Data Sources
View source datasets and methodology notes
- Provider Directory
- CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), download.cms.gov/nppes, updated monthly. Contains NPI, specialty, credentials, and practice location.
- Specialty Classification
- NUCC Health Care Provider Taxonomy (nucc.org), the industry standard for classifying provider specialties in Medicare and Medicaid billing.
- Prescribing Data
- CMS Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File (2024). Includes claims, drug costs, beneficiaries, and opioid prescribing rates.
- Limitations
- Provider data is self-reported to CMS. Prescribing data reflects Medicare Part D only and does not include commercial insurance, Medicaid, or cash prescriptions. Claims below 11 beneficiaries are suppressed by CMS for privacy.
See our complete data methodology for details on how we collect and process government data.
Data as of August 2026 (NPPES) / 2024 (Medicare Part D). Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Disclaimer: Data from CMS NPPES and Medicare Part D. PlainDoctor does not rate or rank providers. Provider information is self-reported and may not be current. Always verify information directly with the provider. About · Methodology
Every figure on PlainDoctor is rendered directly from the federal CMS NPPES registry, Medicare Part D, MIPS, and Open Payments records, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.