Top medical specialties by provider count
Behavior Technician is the largest group in the federal registry, 580,469 records, followed by Clinical Social Worker with 312,758. The ten largest of the 688 specialties in use hold 37.9% of all 7,327,918 records.
The ten largest, in NPPES records
Source: CMS NPPES, primary taxonomy, file of Aug 9, 2026.
16 of the 25 largest specialties barely appear in Medicare prescribing
Headcount and prescribing are different measures. For 16 of these specialties, fewer than 1% of NPIs appear in the Medicare Part D prescriber file, while family medicine physicians reach 75%. Each record is counted once, under its primary taxonomy.
| Specialty | Code | Records | Share | In Part D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Behavior Technician | 106S00000X | 580,469 | 7.9% | <0.1% |
| 2Clinical Social Worker | 1041C0700X | 312,758 | 4.3% | <0.1% |
| 3Pharmacist | 183500000X | 292,480 | 4.0% | 10% |
| 4Mental Health Counselor | 101YM0800X | 290,729 | 4.0% | <0.1% |
| 5Student in an Organized Health Care Education/Training Program | 390200000X | 275,958 | 3.8% | 22% |
| 6Physical Therapist | 225100000X | 264,021 | 3.6% | <0.1% |
| 7Family Nurse Practitioner | 363LF0000X | 236,688 | 3.2% | 59% |
| 8Speech-Language Pathologist | 235Z00000X | 199,814 | 2.7% | <0.1% |
| 9Physician Assistant | 363A00000X | 163,889 | 2.2% | 62% |
| 10Case Manager/Care Coordinator | 171M00000X | 160,927 | 2.2% | <0.1% |
| 11Family Medicine Physician | 207Q00000X | 156,104 | 2.1% | 75% |
| 12Internal Medicine Physician | 207R00000X | 149,962 | 2.0% | 73% |
| 13Registered Nurse | 163W00000X | 148,485 | 2.0% | 0.5% |
| 14Professional Counselor | 101YP2500X | 140,321 | 1.9% | <0.1% |
| 15Social Worker | 104100000X | 136,154 | 1.9% | <0.1% |
| 16Occupational Therapist | 225X00000X | 135,002 | 1.8% | <0.1% |
| 17General Practice Dentistry | 1223G0001X | 125,798 | 1.7% | 56% |
| 18Behavior Analyst | 103K00000X | 108,761 | 1.5% | <0.1% |
| 19Counselor | 101Y00000X | 106,545 | 1.5% | <0.1% |
| 20Marriage & Family Therapist | 106H00000X | 100,966 | 1.4% | <0.1% |
| 21Personal Care Attendant | 3747P1801X | 97,299 | 1.3% | <0.1% |
| 22Nurse Practitioner | 363L00000X | 96,627 | 1.3% | 56% |
| 23Chiropractor | 111N00000X | 96,211 | 1.3% | <0.1% |
| 24Addiction (Substance Use Disorder) Counselor | 101YA0400X | 95,387 | 1.3% | <0.1% |
| 25Dentist | 122300000X | 93,836 | 1.3% | 54% |
Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), primary taxonomy, file of Aug 9, 2026 (cms.gov); CMS Medicare Part D Prescribers by Provider, 2024 (data.cms.gov). In Part D: share of the specialty's NPIs in the prescriber file.
Reading the ranking
NPPES is an enrollment registry, not a workforce survey. A clinician with several taxonomy codes is counted once, under the primary code, and allied health roles such as therapists and pharmacists hold their own NPIs to bill, which is why they rank high. Every code and its count is on the taxonomy code lookup.
Common questions
What is the most common provider specialty in the NPI registry?
Behavior Technician, with 580,469 records under that primary taxonomy, 7.9% of the registry. Clinical Social Worker is second with 312,758.
Which physician specialty is largest?
Family Medicine Physician, with 156,104 records.
Why do some large specialties show almost no Medicare prescribers?
Many large groups, such as behavior technicians, counselors and therapists, do not prescribe drugs. The Part D column shows the share of each specialty found in the Medicare Part D prescriber file.
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