Why did Vermont return more cardiothoracic records than Wyoming?

Vermont returned 15 statewide; Wyoming returned 11. Vermont has the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, a Level I trauma center with an active cardiac surgery program. Wyoming lacks a comparable academic medical center — the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper is the state's largest hospital, but cardiac surgery volume and surgeon count are lower. Both states are thin enough that a single query with no city filter captures the complete statewide call list.

Find Cardiothoracic Surgeons by Zip Code — NPI Registry Guide

Q: Why do 'Cardiac Surgery', 'Cardiothoracic Surgery', 'Heart Surgery', and 'Cardiovascular Surgery' all return zero?

All four are colloquial clinical terms, not NUCC taxonomy strings. CMS uses the formal NUCC label 'Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery)' (208G00000X). The API performs exact or prefix matching on taxonomy_description — any term that doesn't match this exact string or a valid prefix returns zero. This is the most commonly failed taxonomy lookup in the cardiology-adjacent surgical space: reps try 'Cardiac Surgery' or 'Heart Surgery' and see zero results, assuming no records exist.

Q: Does the cardiothoracic surgery taxonomy include lung surgeons and esophageal surgeons?

Yes. NUCC 208G00000X encompasses the full scope of cardiothoracic surgery training: cardiac surgery (CABG, valve, heart transplant), thoracic surgery (lung resection, esophagectomy, mediastinal masses), and thoracic aortic surgery (TEVAR, aortic root procedures). A rep selling a cardiac device, a thoracic stapler, or a perfusion product all start from the same 'Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery)' query.

Q: How does the Memphis cardiothoracic call list compare to Nashville?

Memphis returned 49 records on 2026-06-13 (33 NPI-1, 16 NPI-2); Nashville returned 73. Nashville's higher count reflects the concentration of academic medical centers in that city — Vanderbilt University Medical Center, St. Thomas, and TriStar Centennial all have active cardiac surgery programs. Of Memphis's 49 records, 40 had NUCC code 208G00000X as primary taxonomy. The credential breakdown was: M.D.: 20, MD: 8, (none/org): 16 — predominantly MD-credentialed surgeons and hospital organization records.

Q: Is there a separate NUCC code for cardiac surgery versus thoracic surgery?

No — NUCC 208G00000X covers both under a single taxonomy designation. The NUCC does not separate 'cardiac surgery' from 'thoracic surgery' as distinct taxonomy strings. This reflects the training pathway: cardiothoracic surgeons complete a unified residency covering both cardiac and thoracic work. If your territory distinguishes between cardiac device reps and thoracic device reps, you will draw from the same NPI call list — sub-filtering by hospital affiliation or device type is outside what NPI data provides.

Q: How do cardiothoracic surgeons differ from cardiologists and interventional cardiologists in the NPI registry?

Cardiologists (Cardiovascular Disease, 207RC0000X) are non-surgical physicians who manage heart disease with medication, stress tests, and echocardiograms. Interventional cardiologists (Interventional Cardiology, 207RI0011X) perform cath-lab procedures — stents, angioplasty, TAVR. Cardiothoracic surgeons (208G00000X) perform open surgical procedures — bypass grafts, valve replacement, heart transplant. Three separate specialties, three separate call lists, zero record overlap. A device that goes into the operating room (sternotomy, thoracotomy) targets cardiothoracic surgeons. A catheter-based device targets interventional cardiologists.

Published 2026-06-13 · Data queried from CMS NPI Registry v2.1 · getdork

Methodology: All counts queried live from CMS NPI Registry API v2.1 on 2026-06-13 using taxonomy_description=Thoracic+Surgery+(Cardiothoracic+Vascular+Surgery). No auth required. Raw data: npi-counts-cardiothoracic-surgery.json · Memphis raw · Vermont raw · Script: npi-counts-cardiothoracic-surgery.ps1

The short answer: Use taxonomy_description=Thoracic+Surgery+(Cardiothoracic+Vascular+Surgery) (NUCC 208G00000X). Every intuitive clinical term returns zero. This is the single most unguessable taxonomy string in the NPI registry.

Critical gotcha — empirically verified 2026-06-13 (four separate tests):
taxonomy_description=Cardiac+Surgery → 0 results
taxonomy_description=Cardiothoracic+Surgery → 0 results
taxonomy_description=Heart+Surgery → 0 results
taxonomy_description=Cardiovascular+Surgery → 0 results

The official CMS taxonomy name is the awkward parenthetical string: Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) (208G00000X). No other term will return these surgeons. Any rep who builds a cardiac device call list without knowing this string will have an empty territory with no error message.

Cardiothoracic surgery records by market — 2026-06-13

Market	Records returned	Notes
New York, NY	200+	Capped — major academic cardiac centers
Chicago, IL	200+	Capped
Houston, TX	200+	Capped — includes Texas Heart Institute
Los Angeles, CA	199	Near-complete city count
Phoenix, AZ	93	Complete city count
Nashville, TN	73	Complete city count — Vanderbilt cardiac programs
Memphis, TN	49	Complete count — see drill-down below
Vermont (statewide)	15	Complete statewide count — very sparse
Wyoming (statewide)	11	Complete statewide count — very sparse

Source: npi-counts-cardiothoracic-surgery.json, queried 2026-06-13.

Memphis drill-down — Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery), 2026-06-13 (n=49)
Entity type: 33 NPI-1 (individual providers) · 16 NPI-2 (organizations: cardiac surgery groups, hospital-based programs)
NUCC 208G00000X primary: 40 of 49 records — the clean cardiothoracic surgeon call list
Other primary codes: 3 Internal Medicine, 1 General Surgery, 1 Family Medicine, 1 Cardiovascular Disease, 1 Vascular Surgery, 1 Critical Care, 1 other
Credential breakdown: M.D.: 20 · MD: 8 · (none/NPI-2 orgs): 16 · D.O.: 1 · MD, FRCS, DNB: 1

Filter on NUCC 208G00000X to isolate the 40 cardiothoracic surgeons. The 9 non-208G records are address-matched records from other specialties that appeared on the same query page.

Vermont comparison (n=15): A complete statewide list — thin enough to cover manually, but a territory rep still needs the correct taxonomy string to retrieve it.

The terms that return zero — and the one that works

Search term tried	Result	Why
`Cardiac Surgery`	0 results	Not a NUCC taxonomy string
`Cardiothoracic Surgery`	0 results	Not a NUCC taxonomy string
`Heart Surgery`	0 results	Not a NUCC taxonomy string
`Cardiovascular Surgery`	0 results	Not a NUCC taxonomy string
`Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery)`	Works — returns 208G00000X	The official NUCC taxonomy name — exactly as written

All verified live 2026-06-13. Source: npi-counts-cardiothoracic-surgery.json.

How to build a cardiothoracic surgeon call list

Use the exact parenthetical string

https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/api/?version=2.1
  &taxonomy_description=Thoracic+Surgery+(Cardiothoracic+Vascular+Surgery)
  &city=Memphis&state=TN&limit=200

The parentheses and the word order matter. The API performs prefix matching, so "Thoracic Surgery" alone also works as a shorter prefix — but the full canonical string avoids any ambiguity. result_count=49 for Memphis on 2026-06-13.

For cardiology device reps covering the full cardiac team, also run general cardiology and interventional

Cardiothoracic surgeons are one part of the cardiac care team. For a complete picture:

Cardiovascular Disease — general cardiologists (Memphis: 162)
Interventional Cardiology — cath-lab interventionalists (Memphis: 68)
Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery) — surgeons (Memphis: 49)

Each requires a separate query. The three populations do not overlap in NPI data.

Use statewide queries for sparse markets

Vermont: 15 total. Wyoming: 11 total. Cardiothoracic surgery is one of the most concentrated specialties in medicine — it requires perfusion equipment, cardiac bypass teams, and specialized cardiac ICUs. In states with 11–15 surgeons total, a statewide query without a city filter captures the complete call list in a single request.

Search cardiothoracic surgeons by ZIP — free
getdork handles the parenthetical taxonomy string automatically — no manual disambiguation required. Radius filtering, CRM-ready CSV export.

Search cardiothoracic surgeons in your territory →

Radius guidance for cardiothoracic surgery territories

Cardiothoracic surgery is the most hospital-concentrated specialty in medicine. Surgeons operate exclusively at hospitals with cardiac bypass capability, specialized ICUs, and 24/7 cardiac anesthesia. The result: a small number of sites per metropolitan area.

Major metros (NYC, Chicago, Houston — all 200+): 15–25 miles covers the major hospital clusters; a single center may have 10+ surgeons
Mid-size metro (Memphis: 49, Nashville: 73, Phoenix: 93): 25–50 miles captures the regional referral centers
Sparse states (Vermont: 15, Wyoming: 11): query statewide — one or two sites per state hold all surgeons; any city-based filter risks missing them

Frequently asked questions

Why do "Cardiac Surgery", "Cardiothoracic Surgery", "Heart Surgery", and "Cardiovascular Surgery" all return zero?

All four are colloquial clinical terms that do not appear in the NUCC taxonomy table. CMS uses the formal NUCC label "Thoracic Surgery (Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery)" (208G00000X). The API matches on taxonomy_description — any term that doesn't prefix-match the official NUCC string returns zero with no error. This is the most commonly failed taxonomy lookup for cardiac device reps: every intuitive term they try returns zero.

Does the cardiothoracic surgery taxonomy include lung surgeons and esophageal surgeons?

Yes. NUCC 208G00000X covers the full scope of cardiothoracic training: cardiac surgery (CABG, valve replacement, heart transplant), thoracic surgery (lung resection, esophagectomy, pleural procedures), and thoracic aortic surgery (TEVAR, aortic root). Reps selling cardiac, thoracic, and esophageal devices all start from the same query string.

How does the Memphis cardiothoracic call list compare to Nashville?

Memphis returned 49 (33 NPI-1, 16 NPI-2); Nashville returned 73. Nashville's higher count reflects concentration at Vanderbilt, St. Thomas, and TriStar Centennial. Of Memphis's 49 records, 40 have NUCC 208G00000X as primary taxonomy — the clean cardiothoracic call list. The remaining 9 are address-matched records from other specialties. Credential breakdown for Memphis NPI-1: M.D.: 20, MD: 8.

Is there a separate NUCC code for cardiac surgery versus thoracic surgery?

No. NUCC 208G00000X covers both under a single taxonomy designation — the training pathway is a unified cardiothoracic surgery residency. The NPI registry does not subdivide by operative focus. If your territory distinguishes cardiac from thoracic reps, you start from the same NPI call list and sub-filter using hospital credentialing data, society membership (STS, AATS), or device implant volume data outside the NPI registry.

Why did Vermont return more cardiothoracic surgeons than Wyoming?

Vermont: 15; Wyoming: 11. Vermont has the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington — a Level I trauma center with an active cardiac surgery program serving the entire state. Wyoming's largest hospital (Wyoming Medical Center, Casper) has a smaller cardiac surgery program. Both states are thin enough that a single statewide query returns the complete list. A city-based query risks missing surgeons whose mailing address differs from their practice city.

How do cardiothoracic surgeons differ from cardiologists and interventional cardiologists in the NPI registry?

Cardiologists (Cardiovascular Disease, 207RC0000X) = non-surgical physicians managing heart disease with medication and imaging. Interventional cardiologists (Interventional Cardiology, 207RI0011X) = cath-lab operators doing stents and TAVR. Cardiothoracic surgeons (208G00000X) = open surgical specialists doing CABG, valve surgery, and thoracic procedures. Three completely separate NUCC codes, zero record overlap. A device entering the OR via sternotomy targets cardiothoracic surgeons; a catheter-based device targets interventional cardiologists.

Methodology

All data queried live from CMS NPI Registry API v2.1 on 2026-06-13. All four wrong-term queries (Cardiac Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery) were verified to return result_count: null (zero) on 2026-06-13 — confirmed in npi-counts-cardiothoracic-surgery.json. Raw response files for Memphis and Vermont are available above.

Related guides

How to search the NPI registry
What is an NPI number?
How to find physicians by specialty and state
Find cardiologists by zip code — general cardiology (Cardiovascular Disease, 207RC0000X)
Find vascular surgeons by zip code — Vascular Surgery (2086S0129X)