2081P2900X Pain Medicine (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation) Physician

Definition

A physician who provides a high level of care, either as a primary physician or consultant, for patients experiencing problems with acute, chronic or cancer pain in both hospital and ambulatory settings. Patient care needs may also be coordinated with other specialists.

— NUCC Health Care Provider Taxonomy, version 26.1

Where 2081P2900X sits

• Group: Allopathic & Osteopathic Physicians — code 172 of 238 in the group
• Classification: Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 208100000X
• Specialization: Pain Medicine 2081P2900X

Choose 2081P2900X over the general Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation code (208100000X) when the provider's training or certification is specifically in pain medicine; 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 2081P2900X to Medicare specialty 25 (Physician/Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation). That specialty — not the taxonomy code itself — is what Medicare enrollment records and uses for payment. 10,933 practitioners are enrolled under it nationally, and 6 other taxonomy codes map to the same specialty.

Other codes under the same Medicare specialty: 208100000X Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Physician; 2081H0002X Hospice and Palliative Medicine (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation) Physician; 2081N0008X Neuromuscular Medicine (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation) Physician; 2081P0004X Spinal Cord Injury Medicine Physician; 2081P0010X Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Physician; 2081S0010X Sports Medicine (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation) Physician.

Related codes

The nearest 6 of 7 other codes under Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; all are on the group page.

History of 2081P2900X

NUCC's earliest recorded change to 2081P2900X is from 2007 (definition changed, source changed).

• 2007-07-01 — definition changed, source changed

Similar codes in other groups

If 2081P2900X is not quite right, these codes in other groups share a word with it — often the same field practised by a different kind of provider:

• 125Q00000X Oral Medicine Dentistry (Dental Providers)
• 1223X2210X Orofacial Pain Dentistry (Dental Providers)
• 163WC0200X Critical Care Medicine Registered Nurse (Nursing Service Providers)
• 163WP0000X Pain Management Registered Nurse (Nursing Service Providers)
• 173000000X Legal Medicine (Other Service Providers)
• 1835E0208X Emergency Medicine Pharmacist (Pharmacy Service Providers)

Using 2081P2900X

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.