Physician Assistant: Medicare enrollment by state

Taxonomy codes for physician assistant

CMS's crosswalk maps 3 NUCC taxonomy codes to Medicare specialty 97. A provider enrolling as physician assistant should hold one of them as the primary taxonomy on their NPI.

Where it is concentrated

Raw counts follow population, so the more telling figure is each state's share: what fraction of the state's Medicare-enrolled NPIs are physician assistant. Nationally the specialty is 6.7% of enrolled NPIs. The highest shares are in North Carolina (10.3%), Idaho (9.5%), Utah (9.2%); the lowest in Mississippi (2.2%), Arkansas (2.9%), Alabama (3.7%). 51 of the 51 (50 states and DC) have at least one enrolled.

Billing versus order-and-refer enrollment

Medicare enrolls practitioners in two ways. A full enrollment lets the provider bill Medicare for their own services; it is what the 173,353 above count. An order-and-refer-only enrollment lets a provider who never bills Medicare — a resident, a VA or military physician, a dentist ordering imaging — still order tests, equipment and referrals that Medicare pays for. 2,412 physician assistant NPIs hold that limited enrollment.

Every state

Counts are unique NPIs enrolled in each state; a provider enrolled in two states counts in both. The share is of all Medicare-enrolled NPIs in that state.

Sources: CMS Medicare Fee-For-Service Public Provider Enrollment, extract of 2026-09-29; CMS Medicare Provider and Supplier Taxonomy Crosswalk, August 2026. Checked 2026-10-24. Methodology.