NPI registry status
Active
2026 NPPES data Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician NPI 1174502017 M.D.
Verify on CMS → Paul Puckett, M.D.
Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician in Missoula, Montana.
This profile is drawn from the federal National Provider Identifier Registry (CMS NPPES), which lists more than 7 million U.S. healthcare providers - including 2,013 in Orthopaedic Hand Surgery 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
84
Medicare Part D claims · 61 beneficiaries · Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician avg: 185
MIPS score
75/100
CMS neutral threshold · no category scores published
Source: CMS Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File, 2024
What the federal data shows
Paul Puckett, M.D. carries the neutral CMS MIPS final score of 75/100, assigned where no category was scored - and filed 84 Medicare Part D claims in 2024.
- 75/100
- CMS neutral score · not measured
- 84
- Part D claims, 2024
- Likely
- board-certified (heuristic)
- ≥0th
- 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 Paul Puckett, M.D.
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 1174502017), first enumerated 01/10/2006.
Source: CMS NPPES
- Reported
Medicare Part D participation
Filed 84 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)
CMS assigned a neutral MIPS final score of 75/100 where no performance category was scored — not a measured quality rank.
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
1 CMS Care Compare hospital affiliation on record — practice footprint from the Doctors and Clinicians file.
Source: CMS Care Compare
- 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 1174502017 · Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician
NPI-10 · ENUM-LEGACY · TAX-NARROW · MIPS-NEUTRAL · RX-TRACE · BOOK-THIN · PHOTO-ENUM
- NPI-10 1174502017
- ENUM-LEGACY 2006
- TAX-NARROW 2,013
- MIPS-NEUTRAL 75/100
- RX-TRACE 84
- BOOK-THIN 11 in Montana
- PHOTO-ENUM Steven Goldberg · 2006
Paul Puckett, M.D.'s Medicare Part D volume vs every U.S. prescriber
Total Medicare Part D claims, 2024, across all CMS prescribers nationally
84 ≥ 0th percentile 0% 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)
Paul Puckett, M.D. practices in an ABMS-board-eligible specialty and shows active CMS Medicare participation + MIPS quality reporting + 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 Paul Puckett, M.D.?
CMS neutral score, not measuredPrimary specialty
Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician
Medicare Part D claims
84 55% vs specialty avg
MIPS final score
75/100
Specialty distribution in Montana
How Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician compares to other specialties among Montana providers
MIPS score not measured
CMS assigned a neutral 75/100 threshold
CMS did not publish any Quality, Cost, Promoting Interoperability, or Improvement Activities category score for this clinician. This administrative threshold is not comparable with the national average of clinicians whose MIPS score was measured.
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 | 1174502017 |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician |
| Credentials | M.D. |
| Gender | Male |
| NPI Issued | 01/10/2006 |
CMS Quality Score (MIPS)
Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) scores from CMS, 2023 performance year.
75
Final Score
CMS neutral threshold · not measured
Reporting: Individual
Hospital and facility affiliations
Facilities where Paul Puckett, M.D. 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.
Missoula Bone And Joint LLC
Missoula, MT
Affiliations sourced from CMS Doctors and Clinicians National Downloadable File; hospital ratings from CMS Hospital General Information dataset (cross-referenced by facility name + state).
Medicare Part D Prescribing Data
CMS Medicare Part D prescriber-level data for calendar year 2024.
84
Total Claims
$384
Total Drug Cost
61
Medicare Beneficiaries
Prescribing Breakdown
- 30-Day Fills
- 84
- Total Day Supply
- 892
- Brand Drug Cost
- $0
- Generic Drug Cost
- $384
- Opioid Claims
- 49 (58.3% rate)
Patient Demographics
- Average Patient Age
- 71.0 years
- Avg HCC Risk Score
- 1.17
- Gender Split
- 61% female / 39% male
Top Prescribed Drugs (Medicare Part D)
Top drugs by claim count for calendar year 2024. Based on Medicare Part D data only.
What Paul Puckett, M.D. prescribes most
Top Medicare Part D drugs by claim count, 2024
- Acetaminophen-Code…
Acetaminophen-Codeine
33 claims
- Meloxicam
Meloxicam
20 claims
- Hydrocodone-Acetam… 12
Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen
12 claims
| Drug | Claims |
|---|---|
| Acetaminophen-Codeine Acetaminophen With Codeine | 33 |
| Meloxicam | 20 |
| Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen | 12 |
* Counts below 11 are suppressed by CMS for patient privacy. Generic names shown where available from CMS Part D data.
Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician Overview
How Paul Puckett, M.D. fits within the Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician landscape nationally.
2,013
Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician Providers in US
52
States with Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician
185
Avg Claims per Provider
Paul Puckett, M.D.'s 84 claims are below the specialty average of 185.
Nationwide Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician peers with similar MIPS or enrollment year
Two federal-record peer sets for Puckett, both outside Montana so the neighborhoods are not geographic containment.
Similar MIPS final score
Nearest same-specialty clinicians by CMS MIPS final score (75 here).
Same NPPES enumeration year (2006)
Same-specialty clinicians who entered the NPI registry in the same calendar year, outside this state.
Nearby Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician Providers in Montana
Other clinicians with the same primary specialty enrolled in Montana, drawn from the same CMS NPPES roster as Puckett.
One of 11 Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician providers enrolled in Montana, 5 are shown here.
Dr. Nicholas Beck
MD
Billings, MT
Dr. Ralph Costanzo
M.D.
Billings, MT
Dr. John Craw
M.D.
Great Falls, MT
Dr. Nathaniel Fogel
MD, MS
Kalispell, MT
Dr. Wanda Gorsuch
M.D.
Great Falls, MT
Compare Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician nationally: see state-by-state distribution →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Paul Puckett, M.D.'s specialty? ▼
Paul Puckett, M.D. specializes in Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician and practices in Missoula, Montana. Credentials: M.D..
How much does Paul Puckett, M.D. prescribe under Medicare Part D? ▼
In 2024, Paul Puckett, M.D. wrote 84 Medicare Part D claims totaling $384 in drug costs for 61 beneficiaries.
What is Paul Puckett, M.D.'s Medicare quality score? ▼
Paul Puckett, M.D. has a CMS MIPS Final Score of 75/100. CMS published no Quality, Promoting Interoperability, Improvement Activity or Cost score for this clinician, so the final score is the neutral performance threshold CMS assigns rather than a measured result. 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 Paul Puckett, M.D. located? ▼
Paul Puckett, M.D. is located at 2360 MULLAN RD, Missoula, MT, 59808. Phone: (406) 721-4436.
What is Paul Puckett, M.D.'s NPI number? ▼
Paul Puckett, M.D.'s National Provider Identifier (NPI) is 1174502017, issued on 01/10/2006.
Does Paul Puckett, M.D. prescribe opioids? ▼
Yes, Paul Puckett, M.D. had 49 opioid claims in 2024 with an opioid prescribing rate of 58.3%.
How many Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician providers are there in the US? ▼
There are 2,013 Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician providers across 52 states in the US. The average Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Physician provider writes 185 Medicare Part D claims per year.
What drugs does Paul Puckett, M.D. prescribe most often? ▼
Based on 2024 Medicare Part D data, Paul Puckett, M.D.'s most frequently prescribed drugs include Acetaminophen-Codeine, Meloxicam, Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen. This reflects Medicare Part D prescriptions only and does not include commercial insurance or other payer types.
Does Paul Puckett, M.D. accept Medicare? ▼
Paul Puckett, M.D. appears in CMS Medicare data with 84 Part D claims and 61 Medicare beneficiaries in 2024. Contact the provider's office directly to confirm current Medicare enrollment and accepted plans.
How can I verify Paul Puckett, M.D.'s credentials? ▼
Paul Puckett, M.D.'s NPI is 1174502017 with credentials M.D.. 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.