Community Health Worker providers in the U.S.
46,112 NPPES records list community health worker as their primary taxonomy, about 14 per 100,000 residents; Alaska and West Virginia have the most per resident. 16 of them appear in the Medicare Part D prescriber file: a registry record is not proof of an active practice.
What taxonomy code 172V00000X means
172V00000X is the National Uniform Claim Committee code for Community Health Worker, in the grouping Other Service Providers. 46,112 NPPES records list it as their primary taxonomy (file of Aug 9, 2026).
Community health workers (CHW) are lay members of communities who work either for pay or as volunteers in association with the local health care system in both urban and rural environments and usually share ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status and life experiences with the community members they serve. They have been identified by many titles such as community health advisors, lay health advocates, "promotores(as), outreach educators, community health representatives, peer health promoters, and peer health educators. CHWs offer interpretation and translation services, provide culturally appropriate health education and information, assist people in receiving the care they need, give informal counseling and guidance on health behaviors, advocate for individual and community health needs, and provide some direct services such as first aid and blood pressure screening. Some examples of these practitioners are Community Health Aides or Practitioners established under 25 USC 1616 (l) under HHS, Indian Health Service, Public Health Service.
Source: NUCC Health Care Provider Taxonomy code set, definition as NUCC publishes it (nucc.org); counts from CMS NPPES.
Most per resident: the 8 highest
Source: CMS NPPES, primary taxonomy 172V00000X by practice state, file of Aug 9, 2026; records per 100,000 residents, 2023 Census estimates.
Charleston has the most, 1,708
Source: CMS NPPES, primary taxonomy 172V00000X by practice city, file of Aug 9, 2026.
All 51 by state
| State | Records | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 25 | 1 |
| Alaska | 2,286 | 312 |
| Arizona | 88 | 1 |
| Arkansas | 29 | 1 |
| California | 11,133 | 29 |
| Colorado | 438 | 8 |
| Connecticut | 212 | 6 |
| Delaware | 8 | 1 |
| District of Columbia | 627 | 92 |
| Florida | 671 | 3 |
| Georgia | 493 | 5 |
| Hawaii | 172 | 12 |
| Idaho | 203 | 10 |
| Illinois | 247 | 2 |
| Indiana | 148 | 2 |
| Iowa | 29 | 1 |
| Kansas | 499 | 17 |
| Kentucky | 1,672 | 37 |
| Louisiana | 183 | 4 |
| Maine | 41 | 3 |
| Maryland | 364 | 6 |
| Massachusetts | 757 | 11 |
| Michigan | 2,783 | 28 |
| Minnesota | 347 | 6 |
| Mississippi | 43 | 2 |
| Missouri | 280 | 5 |
| State | Records | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Montana | 23 | 2 |
| Nebraska | 477 | 24 |
| Nevada | 1,088 | 34 |
| New Hampshire | 33 | 2 |
| New Jersey | 138 | 2 |
| New Mexico | 1,451 | 69 |
| New York | 869 | 4 |
| North Carolina | 170 | 2 |
| North Dakota | 43 | 6 |
| Ohio | 3,832 | 33 |
| Oklahoma | 229 | 6 |
| Oregon | 1,213 | 29 |
| Pennsylvania | 248 | 2 |
| Rhode Island | 149 | 14 |
| South Carolina | 71 | 1 |
| South Dakota | 5 | 1 |
| Tennessee | 200 | 3 |
| Texas | 870 | 3 |
| Utah | 4,045 | 118 |
| Vermont | 387 | 60 |
| Virginia | 99 | 1 |
| Washington | 1,049 | 13 |
| West Virginia | 4,210 | 238 |
| Wisconsin | 92 | 2 |
| Wyoming | 1,320 | 226 |
In federal data
- NUCC code172V00000X
- Size rank41st of 688 specialties by records (0.63% of all)
- Part D prescribers16 (under 0.1% of records)
- Part D claims886 a year per prescriber, on average (92nd of 496)
- Industry payments4 physicians paid $50K in 2024, $12K each on average
- Concentration4 states hold half of all records
Source: CMS NPPES; Medicare Part D Prescriber PUF; CMS Open Payments 2024. Presence in these files is not a quality judgment.
A sample of community health worker records
- Ida Kernak, BHCAAnchorage, AK1205173408
- Mikhail EnsticeAnchorage, AK1972145118
- Michelle Shangin, MHPCAnchorage, AK1194329615
- Timothy Sherman, MSWAnchorage, AK1356088207
- Elizabeth Weston, BHCAAnchorage, AK1861105660
- Jeremiah LeavittAnchorage, AK1487486726
- Matthew ScottAnchorage, AK1417834045
- Aleric Kompkoff-AndersonAnchorage, AK1760328132
- Joseph WilliamsAnchorage, AK1780501379
- Muhamadou JuwaraAnchorage, AK1972473650
- Bonita Babcock, CHAAnchorage, AK1962799601
- Joseph McMillanAnchorage, AK1558658203
- Anamaria Suarez, MHPCAnchorage, AK1396092102
- Nathaniel AtchakAnchorage, AK1700336922
- Lorinda Wahrer, BHCAAnchorage, AK1679115851
- Hannah LysneAnchorage, AK1174148910
Registry order, not a ranking. Search by name to find one provider.
Common questions
Where does the large Community Health Worker headcount concentrate?
46,112 Community Health Worker NPIs span 52 states; California alone holds 11,133. Top metros include Charleston, WV; San Francisco, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; Prestonsburg, KY. Nationally this is 41st of 688 NUCC codes.
How large is Community Health Worker's Open Payments footprint?
CMS Open Payments 2024 lists 4 Community Health Worker physicians totaling $50K (275 payments; average $12K, 30th of 470). Presence in Open Payments is not a quality judgment.
How heavy is Community Health Worker Part D prescribing at scale?
Among Community Health Worker NPIs, 16 appear in the Medicare Part D Prescriber PUF (average 886 claims and $173K drug cost per prescriber; 92nd of 496 specialties by average claims). Non-prescribing clinicians in the same NUCC code are still in NPPES.
Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), file of Aug 9, 2026 (NPPES files on CMS.gov); NUCC Health Care Provider Taxonomy (nucc.org); Medicare Part D Prescriber PUF; CMS Open Payments 2024. Counts are self-designated primary taxonomy, not board certification.
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. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of Aug 9, 2026.