Eye and Vision Services Providers / 156FX1700X
Individual · specialization · Medicare specialty B5
156FX1700X Ocularist
156FX1700X is the taxonomy code for Ocularist, a specialization of Technician/Technologist, in the NUCC group “Eye and Vision Services Providers”. It is a code for individual providers — the kind used on a Type 1 NPI. Medicare maps it to specialty B5, Ocularist, under which 0 practitioners are enrolled.
- 1Taxonomy code 156FX1700X
- 2Level Specialization
- 3Medicare specialty B5 Ocularist
- 4Codes in this group 17
Definition
An ocularist is a thoroughly trained professional skilled in the art of fitting, painting, and fabricating custom ocular prostheses. In addition to creating custom ocular prostheses, and providing long-term care through periodic examinations, an ocularist provides the patient with complete instructions on the care and maintenance of their prosthesis.
— NUCC Health Care Provider Taxonomy, version 26.1
Where 156FX1700X sits
- Group: Eye and Vision Services Providers — code 11 of 17 in the group
- Classification: Technician/Technologist 156F00000X
- Specialization: Ocularist 156FX1700X
Choose 156FX1700X over the general Technician/Technologist code (156F00000X) when the provider's training or certification is specifically in ocularist; the general code covers the classification as a whole. A provider may report more than one taxonomy code on an NPI but marks one as primary.
Medicare
CMS's taxonomy crosswalk links 156FX1700X to Medicare specialty B5 (Ocularist). That specialty — not the taxonomy code itself — is what Medicare enrollment records and uses for payment. 0 practitioners are enrolled under it nationally.
Related codes
| Code | Technician/Technologist — other specializations |
|---|---|
| 156F00000X | Technician/Technologist |
| 156FC0800X | Contact Lens |
| 156FC0801X | Contact Lens Fitter |
| 156FX1100X | Ophthalmic |
| 156FX1101X | Ophthalmic Assistant |
| 156FX1800X | Optician |
The nearest 6 of 9 other codes under Technician/Technologist; all are on the group page.
History of 156FX1700X
NUCC's earliest recorded change to 156FX1700X is from 2023 (definition added).
- 2023-07-01 — definition added
Find providers with 156FX1700X
Using 156FX1700X
The code goes in the taxonomy field of the NPI application in NPPES, and on claims where a payer asks for it — box 24J (shaded) or 33b on the CMS-1500 with the ZZ qualifier, or the PRV segment of an 837 electronic claim. Payers match it against the taxonomy on the NPI record and, for Medicare, against the specialty on the enrollment, so all three should agree. To see which code a provider uses, search their NPI in the lookup.
Sources: NUCC Health Care Provider Taxonomy code set, version 26.1 (CSV); CMS Medicare Provider and Supplier Taxonomy Crosswalk, August 2026; CMS Medicare Fee-For-Service Public Provider Enrollment, extract of 2026-09-29. Checked 2026-10-24. Methodology.