An NPI (National Provider Identifier) is the standard 10-digit ID for U.S. healthcare providers and organizations on electronic claims and related transactions. This NPI lookup queries live CMS NPPES public data, so you see the same provider rows the official NPI Registry publishes. Search by number, name, organization, or location. We're independent (not CMS or HHS), free to use, and you don't need an account.
An NPI is a unique 10-digit number that identifies a healthcare individual or organization in standard HIPAA electronic transactions. CMS assigns it. We don't issue NPIs; we only help you look up what's already on the public record.
NPPES (National Plan and Provider Enumeration System) is CMS's system for enumerating providers and publishing the public NPI file. HIPAA required a single national identifier; NPIs replaced older IDs like UPIN and OSCAR. Since May 2007, covered providers, health plans, and clearinghouses that send standard electronic transactions have to use an NPI.
NPIs don't expire when someone changes jobs or address. That stability is why payers, billers, and directories rely on them as the common key for the same provider over time.
Important: an NPI on the public file is not proof of state licensure, board certification, or payer enrollment. For decisions that depend on those facts, check licensing boards, payers, or CMS's official registry.
CMS assigns these to people who render care or bill as individuals: physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, chiropractors, pharmacists, therapists, audiologists, and similar roles.
CMS assigns these to legal entities: hospitals, nursing homes, labs, pharmacies, home health agencies, group practices, and other organizations that bill or bill under as a group.
Choose a tab to search the way NPPES supports: by 10-digit NPI, individual Provider Name, Organization, or Advanced Filters (City, ZIP, Taxonomy, and more).
Only digits 0–9; non-digits are removed. Enter or paste all 10.
Matches NPPES individual (person) search. Add state when the name is common so you stay under the 20-result limit.
Optional, but we recommend it when the last name matches lots of people.
Search Type 2 organization NPIs. State helps when many facilities share a similar name.
Narrows the list when the same org name appears in many states.
Use together with country, taxonomy, city, or ZIP.
Tells NPPES whether to match practice location or mailing address columns.
Under HIPAA, a covered entity is a healthcare provider, health plan, or clearinghouse that transmits protected health information in standard electronic transactions. Those workflows almost always reference an NPI so everyone means the same provider or organization.
If you're in that world, you usually need at least one NPI (sometimes both Type 1 and Type 2, for example when a group bills under an organization NPI and a clinician still has an individual NPI). The goal is one national standard instead of a mix of legacy numbers.
When you file a claim, check a directory, or answer eligibility, the NPI is how software knows which provider or org row to use. Shared IDs cut down on mismatches and rework compared with everyone using different local codes.
We built this for quick checks against the same public NPPES fields you'd see on CMS's side: name, addresses, taxonomy, enumeration date, and so on. Use it for orientation and data entry prep; when your policy says you need a primary-source screen, open CMS's official registry too.
Check that a 10-digit NPI is active and pull the name, taxonomy, and practice address before you type it into billing or a roster.
If you're a clinician or biller, search by your name and state to copy your NPI onto applications, contracts, and claims.
Search by facility or group name (plus state when the name is common) to find the organization's Type 2 NPI for referrals and network lists.
Read the taxonomy codes on the public row. They describe how NPPES classifies the provider for enumeration, not whether they're licensed in a given state or board-certified.
Each card lines up with a tab in the tool above. Start with what you already have (full NPI, a person's name, an org name, or location and specialty clues).
Use when you have all 10 digits
Fastest path when you already have the number: you'll get name, addresses, phone, taxonomy, and active status from NPPES. Enter 10 digits only (no dashes or spaces).
Individual providers (NPPES “individual” search)
Enter first and last name. Add state when the name is common so you don't hit the 20-result cap and miss the right row.
Hospitals, groups, labs, pharmacies (Type 2)
Partial names work. Try a distinctive fragment (for example “Memorial”) and add state when lots of sites share similar names.
Country, city, ZIP, taxonomy, NPI type, address type
Use at least one of country, city, ZIP, or taxonomy / specialty—including country only, like the official NPPES search. State alone is not enough; pair it with one of those filters.
For automation, use our JSON API (HTTP GET endpoints you can call from your own apps). For analytics, ETL, or offline validation, use Downloads to learn how CMS ships full and incremental NPPES files. Please don't hammer this site's HTML search; CMS provides official extracts and applies upstream rate limits.
Six short guides cover definitions, practical lookups, how unofficial sites relate to CMS, and developer topics. Each card opens the full guide. Browse All Guides for the complete Knowledge Base library.
Who gets a 10-digit HIPAA ID, how Type 1 and Type 2 differ, and what the public row does not tell you about licensure or payer status.
Individuals vs organizations in NPPES, when both IDs appear on one claim, and typical patterns for groups and sole props.
Search by 10 digits or by name on public fields, and when to repeat the same check on CMS when your policy requires it.
No rows? Check format and typos, deactivated NPIs, and normal data lag before you assume the number was never issued.
What third-party sites can show from public NPPES columns, how fresh the data is, and when reviewers expect cms.hhs.gov on the screen.
Keys, rate limits, and how our JSON API sits next to CMS bulk files when you wire up integrations.