Legal Medicine providers in the U.S.
759 NPPES records list legal medicine as their primary taxonomy, about 0.2 per 100,000 residents; Hawaii and New York have the most per resident. 246 of them appear in the Medicare Part D prescriber file: a registry record is not proof of an active practice.
What taxonomy code 173000000X means
173000000X is the National Uniform Claim Committee code for Legal Medicine, in the grouping Other Service Providers. 759 NPPES records list it as their primary taxonomy (file of Aug 9, 2026).
The specialty areas of medicine concerned with matters of, and relations with, substantive law and legal institutions; such as the conduct of medical examinations at crime scenes, performance of autopsies, giving of expert medical testimony in judicial proceedings, medical treatment of inmates of penal institutions, the practice of trauma medicine in law enforcement settings, and other clinical practice and medical science applications in the fields of law, law enforcement, and corrections.
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 173000000X by practice state, file of Aug 9, 2026; records per 100,000 residents, 2023 Census estimates.
New York has the most, 20
Source: CMS NPPES, primary taxonomy 173000000X by practice city, file of Aug 9, 2026.
All 46 states and D.C. with records, by state
| State | Records | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 14 | 0.3 |
| Alaska | 1 | 0.1 |
| Arizona | 14 | 0.2 |
| Arkansas | 3 | 0.1 |
| California | 112 | 0.3 |
| Colorado | 9 | 0.2 |
| Connecticut | 2 | 0.1 |
| Delaware | 4 | 0.4 |
| Florida | 76 | 0.3 |
| Georgia | 12 | 0.1 |
| Hawaii | 10 | 0.7 |
| Idaho | 4 | 0.2 |
| Illinois | 30 | 0.2 |
| Indiana | 6 | 0.1 |
| Kansas | 6 | 0.2 |
| Kentucky | 8 | 0.2 |
| Louisiana | 10 | 0.2 |
| Maine | 1 | 0.1 |
| Maryland | 30 | 0.5 |
| Massachusetts | 9 | 0.1 |
| Michigan | 17 | 0.2 |
| Minnesota | 4 | 0.1 |
| Mississippi | 9 | 0.3 |
| State | Records | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Missouri | 9 | 0.1 |
| Montana | 7 | 0.6 |
| Nebraska | 1 | 0.1 |
| Nevada | 3 | 0.1 |
| New Hampshire | 3 | 0.2 |
| New Jersey | 30 | 0.3 |
| New Mexico | 6 | 0.3 |
| New York | 112 | 0.6 |
| North Carolina | 18 | 0.2 |
| Ohio | 12 | 0.1 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 0.1 |
| Oregon | 4 | 0.1 |
| Pennsylvania | 34 | 0.3 |
| Rhode Island | 1 | 0.1 |
| South Carolina | 8 | 0.1 |
| Tennessee | 14 | 0.2 |
| Texas | 27 | 0.1 |
| Utah | 7 | 0.2 |
| Vermont | 1 | 0.2 |
| Virginia | 13 | 0.2 |
| Washington | 19 | 0.2 |
| West Virginia | 3 | 0.2 |
| Wisconsin | 2 | 0.0 |
In federal data
- NUCC code173000000X
- Size rank294th of 688 specialties by records (0.01% of all)
- Part D prescribers246 (32.4% of records)
- Part D claims2,531 a year per prescriber, on average (24th of 496)
- Industry payments144 physicians paid $665K in 2024, $5K each on average
- Concentration6 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 legal medicine records
- Alexis Althens, LMTSutton, AK1982068169
- James Powell, M.D.Birmingham, AL1780632695
- Gary Newsom, M.D.Tuscaloosa, AL1992723019
- Ostap Woloschuk, MDRussellville, AL1275641425
- Kenneth Pitts, M.D.Huntsville, AL1851391494
- Debbie Redmond-Hyder, D.O.Huntsville, AL1366442873
- Prem Gulati, M.D.Huntsville, AL1477547149
- Maria Sales, M.D.Gadsden, AL1114906229
- Karen Fancher, MDAlbertville, AL1760473904
- James Austin, DOAlbertville, AL1932190188
- Frankie Whittington, M.D.Montgomery, AL1417974932
- David Kouri, M.D.Montgomery, AL1144248618
- Ted Williams, M.D.Dothan, AL1346247137
- Stephen Winston, MDFairhope, AL1376524017
- Dae Song, M.D.Selma, AL1316902802
- Robert Murfee, MDEl Dorado, AR1659364339
Registry order, not a ranking. Search by name to find one provider.
Common questions
How should I read Legal Medicine's mid-pack national roster?
759 CMS-registered Legal Medicine providers sit across 48 states; California leads with 112. Leading metros: New York, NY; Brooklyn, NY; Miami, FL; Chicago, IL. Rank 294th of 688 NUCC specialties by headcount.
How does Legal Medicine show up in Open Payments mid-pack?
CMS Open Payments 2024 lists 144 Legal Medicine physicians receiving $665K across 2,597 payments (average $5K; 94th of 470 specialties). Not a quality score.
How much Part D prescribing does this specialty do?
Among Legal Medicine NPIs, 246 appear in the Medicare Part D Prescriber PUF (average 2,531 claims and $249K drug cost per prescriber; 24th 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.