NPI registry status
Active
2026 NPPES data Pain Medicine Physician NPI 1780092346 D.O.
Verify on CMS → Nicholas Elkins, D.O.
Pain Medicine Physician in Safford, Arizona.
This profile is drawn from the federal National Provider Identifier Registry (CMS NPPES), which lists more than 7 million U.S. healthcare providers - including 1,006 in Pain Medicine 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
492
Medicare Part D claims · 168 beneficiaries · Pain Medicine Physician avg: 2K
Generic prescribing
94%
generic claims · 6% brand-name · higher generic rates reduce patient out-of-pocket costs
MIPS score
38.6/100
▼ 45 pts below national avg 83.5 · Below average
Industry payments
$201.79
19 payments · CMS Open Payments (Sunshine Act)
Source: CMS Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File, 2024
What the federal data shows
Nicholas Elkins, D.O. reported a CMS MIPS final score of 38.6/100 - below the 83.5 national average - and filed 492 Medicare Part D claims in 2024.
- 38.6/100
- MIPS score · -45 vs avg
- 492
- Part D claims, 2024
- 94%
- generic prescribing
- Likely
- board-certified (heuristic)
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 Nicholas Elkins, D.O.
Federal records show an active NPI with both Medicare prescribing volume and a measured CMS quality score — objective registry data, not patient reviews.
- Verified
NPI registry status
Active listing in the CMS National Provider Identifier Registry (NPI 1780092346), first enumerated 07/28/2014.
Source: CMS NPPES
- Reported
Medicare Part D participation
Filed 492 Medicare Part D prescription claims in the 2023 CMS public use file — indicates active Medicare prescribing participation.
Source: CMS Part D Prescriber PUF
- Reported
CMS quality reporting (MIPS)
Reported a CMS MIPS final score of 38.6/100 in the Quality Payment Program — a federal quality measure, not a patient review.
Source: CMS Quality Payment Program
- 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
3 CMS Care Compare hospital affiliations on record — practice footprint from the Doctors and Clinicians file.
Source: CMS Care Compare
- Reported
Industry payment transparency
$201.79 in reported industry payments (19 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 1780092346 · Pain Medicine Physician
NPI-10 · ENUM-MID · TAX-NARROW · MIPS-LOW · RX-LIGHT · BOOK-THIN · PHOTO-FINISH
- NPI-10 1780092346
- ENUM-MID 2014
- TAX-NARROW 1,006
- MIPS-LOW 38.6/100
- RX-LIGHT 492
- BOOK-THIN 41 in Arizona
- PHOTO-FINISH Charles Harmuth, MD · ±0.2
MIPS final-score neighbourhood
Same-specialty nationwide peers by CMS final score, not geographic proximity
- Rasheed Amireh, …
Rasheed Amireh, MD
35.8 MIPS pts
- Andrew White, M.…
Andrew White, M.D.
38.3 MIPS pts
- Elkins · this pr…
Elkins · this provider
38.6 MIPS pts
- Charles Harmuth,…
Charles Harmuth, MD
38.8 MIPS pts
- Edward Aldridge,…
Edward Aldridge, M.D.
39.8 MIPS pts
What this shows Nearest measured MIPS peers for this NUCC specialty (2023 performance year).
Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s MIPS score vs every measured U.S. clinician
CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) final score, 2023, the federal quality measure. Clinicians whose score CMS assigned without scoring any category are excluded.
39 ≥ 4th percentile 4% of 454,083 measured providers are in lower value bands
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more measured providers. 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 whole-score-point band: it counts only measured clinicians in lower score bands. A CMS MIPS metric is not a recommendation or a clinical-quality rating by PlainDoctor. See methodology § corpus placement.
Source CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) · 2023
Where Nicholas Elkins, D.O. sits
This provider among pain medicine physician peers
Across the 262 pain medicine physician providers who report both Medicare Part D prescribing and a MIPS quality score, Nicholas Elkins, D.O. writes more Part D claims than 26% of them and scores higher on MIPS quality than 14% - placing this provider in the lower-volume, lower-quality quadrant. Volume reflects patient-panel size and specialty, not quality; the two axes are independent.
Each dot is one pain medicine physician peer from a representative sample of 60; the gold marker is Nicholas Elkins, D.O.. Source: CMS Medicare Part D Prescriber data and the CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System, 2023.
✓
Board certification likely (heuristic, not verified)
Nicholas Elkins, D.O. practices in an ABMS-board-eligible specialty and shows active CMS Medicare participation + MIPS quality reporting + 3 hospital affiliations - 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 Nicholas Elkins, D.O.?
Below national averagePrimary specialty
Pain Medicine Physician
Medicare Part D claims
492 77% vs specialty avg
MIPS final score
38.6/100 44.9 pts vs avg
Specialty distribution in Arizona
How Pain Medicine Physician compares to other specialties among Arizona providers
Medicare quality performance, MIPS
Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s 2023 MIPS final score plotted against the Pain Medicine Physician national average
- MIPS Final Score
- 38.6/100
- vs 83.5 national avg · 2023 performance year
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 | 1780092346 |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Pain Medicine Physician |
| Credentials | D.O. |
| Gender | Male |
| NPI Issued | 07/28/2014 |
CMS Quality Score (MIPS)
Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) scores from CMS, 2023 performance year.
38.6284
Final Score
Measured-score avg: 83.5
40.3517
Quality
38.4097
Cost
0
Promoting Interoperability
Reporting: Group practice
Hospital and facility affiliations
Facilities where Nicholas Elkins, D.O. 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.
According to CMS billing records, Nicholas Elkins, D.O. is affiliated with 3 Medicare-billing facilities, 1 of which carry a CMS Hospital overall star rating.
Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center
★★☆☆☆ 2/5
Globe, AZ
Critical Access Hospitals
CMS CCN: 031314
Mt Graham Regional Medical Center Inc
Safford, AZ
San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corporation
Peridot, AZ
Critical Access Hospitals
CMS CCN: 031320
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 Nicholas Elkins, D.O.. Source: openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
Total received
$202
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.
Brand vs generic prescribing mix · Generic-heavy
Nicholas Elkins, D.O. - brand share 6.0%
Pain Medicine Physician average
6% brand-name claims vs 94% generic, on 492 2024 Medicare Part D claims.
The federal Medicare Part D Generic Dispensing Rate national benchmark sits near 90% generic / 10% brand for primary-care prescribers, per CMS Office of the Actuary 2024 estimates. Higher brand share is common in specialty prescribing where generic equivalents are not available.
Medicare Part D Prescribing Data
CMS Medicare Part D prescriber-level data for calendar year 2024.
492
Total Claims
$27K
Total Drug Cost
168
Medicare Beneficiaries
Prescribing Breakdown
- 30-Day Fills
- 582
- Total Day Supply
- 15,976
- Brand vs Generic
- 6% brand / 94% generic
- Brand Drug Cost
- $17K
- Generic Drug Cost
- $9K
- Opioid Claims
- 269 (54.7% rate)
Patient Demographics
- Average Patient Age
- 71.0 years
- Avg HCC Risk Score
- 1.40
- Gender Split
- 59% female / 41% male
- Age Distribution
- <65: 34, 65-74: 72, 75-84: 51, 85+: 11
Top Prescribed Drugs (Medicare Part D)
Top drugs by claim count for calendar year 2024. Based on Medicare Part D data only.
What Nicholas Elkins, D.O. prescribes most
Top Medicare Part D drugs by claim count, 2024
- Hydrocodone-Acetam…
Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen
95 claims
- Oxycodone-Acetamin…
Oxycodone-Acetaminophen
79 claims
- Gabapentin
Gabapentin
75 claims
- Tramadol Hcl
Tramadol Hcl
45 claims
- Celecoxib
Celecoxib
40 claims
- Pregabalin 37
Pregabalin
37 claims
- Methocarbamol 16
Methocarbamol
16 claims
- Xtampza Er 14
Xtampza Er
14 claims
| Drug | Claims |
|---|---|
| Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 95 |
| Oxycodone-Acetaminophen Oxycodone Hcl/Acetaminophen | 79 |
| Gabapentin | 75 |
| Tramadol Hcl | 45 |
| Celecoxib | 40 |
| Pregabalin | 37 |
| Methocarbamol | 16 |
| Xtampza Er Oxycodone Myristate | 14 |
| Butrans Buprenorphine | 12 |
| Morphine Sulfate Er Morphine Sulfate | 11 |
* Counts below 11 are suppressed by CMS for patient privacy. Generic names shown where available from CMS Part D data.
Pain Medicine Physician Overview
How Nicholas Elkins, D.O. fits within the Pain Medicine Physician landscape nationally.
1,006
Pain Medicine Physician Providers in US
49
States with Pain Medicine Physician
2,094
Avg Claims per Provider
Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s 492 claims are below the specialty average of 2,094.
Nationwide Pain Medicine Physician peers with similar MIPS or enrollment year
Two federal-record peer sets for Elkins, both outside Arizona so the neighborhoods are not geographic containment.
Similar MIPS final score
Nearest same-specialty clinicians by CMS MIPS final score (38.6 here).
Same NPPES enumeration year (2014)
Same-specialty clinicians who entered the NPI registry in the same calendar year, outside this state.
Nearby Pain Medicine Physician Providers in Arizona
Other clinicians with the same primary specialty enrolled in Arizona, drawn from the same CMS NPPES roster as Elkins.
One of 41 Pain Medicine Physician providers enrolled in Arizona, 5 are shown here.
Alfredo Bejarano
Phoenix, AZ
Dr. Eric Boyd
MD
Mesa, AZ
Dr. Tony Bui
M.D.
Phoenix, AZ
Dr. Michael Castillo
MD
Glendale, AZ
Dr. Jose Chavez
D.O.
Scottsdale, AZ
Compare Pain Medicine Physician nationally: see state-by-state distribution →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s specialty? ▼
Nicholas Elkins, D.O. specializes in Pain Medicine Physician and practices in Safford, Arizona. Credentials: D.O..
How much does Nicholas Elkins, D.O. prescribe under Medicare Part D? ▼
In 2024, Nicholas Elkins, D.O. wrote 492 Medicare Part D claims totaling $27K in drug costs for 168 beneficiaries.
What is Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s Medicare quality score? ▼
Nicholas Elkins, D.O. has a CMS MIPS Final Score of 38.6/100 (Quality: 40.4, Cost: 38.4). The average MIPS Final Score across the 454,083 clinicians with at least one published category score is 83.5; clinicians whose score CMS assigned without scoring any category are excluded from that average. Source: CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) 2023.
Where is Nicholas Elkins, D.O. located? ▼
Nicholas Elkins, D.O. is located at 2241 W 16TH ST, Safford, AZ, 85546. Phone: (520) 318-6035.
What is Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s NPI number? ▼
Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s National Provider Identifier (NPI) is 1780092346, issued on 07/28/2014.
Does Nicholas Elkins, D.O. prescribe more brand-name or generic drugs? ▼
Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s prescribing is 6% brand-name and 94% generic drugs by claim count, with $17K in brand drug costs.
Does Nicholas Elkins, D.O. prescribe opioids? ▼
Yes, Nicholas Elkins, D.O. had 269 opioid claims in 2024 with an opioid prescribing rate of 54.7%.
How many Pain Medicine Physician providers are there in the US? ▼
There are 1,006 Pain Medicine Physician providers across 49 states in the US. The average Pain Medicine Physician provider writes 2,094 Medicare Part D claims per year.
What drugs does Nicholas Elkins, D.O. prescribe most often? ▼
Based on 2024 Medicare Part D data, Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s most frequently prescribed drugs include Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen, Oxycodone-Acetaminophen, Gabapentin. This reflects Medicare Part D prescriptions only and does not include commercial insurance or other payer types.
Does Nicholas Elkins, D.O. accept Medicare? ▼
Nicholas Elkins, D.O. appears in CMS Medicare data with 492 Part D claims and 168 Medicare beneficiaries in 2024. Contact the provider's office directly to confirm current Medicare enrollment and accepted plans.
How can I verify Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s credentials? ▼
Nicholas Elkins, D.O.'s NPI is 1780092346 with credentials D.O.. 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.
- Quality Performance
- CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) - 2023 performance year.
- 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.