How to Find Preventive Medicine Doctors by Zip Code
Data sourced from live CMS NPI Registry API v2.1 queries, run June 13, 2026. All provider counts are real API responses, not estimates. Raw query results are available for download. See methodology below.
taxonomy_description=Public+Health+%26+General+Preventive+Medicine — NUCC code 2083P0901X. This is a sparse specialty: Memphis returned 8 records on June 13, 2026; Wyoming returned 4 statewide. The umbrella prefix Preventive Medicine is a multi-code trap that mixes five distinct sub-specialties into a single capped result. General Preventive Medicine returns zero — that string does not exist in the CMS registry.
taxonomy_description=Preventive+Medicine prefix-matches all five NUCC sub-codes and returns a mixed population — Occupational Medicine, Aerospace Medicine, Undersea & Hyperbaric Medicine, and Preventive Medicine/Occupational Environmental Medicine all appear alongside general preventive medicine physicians. All five sub-codes return 200+ records nationally, so a bare umbrella query hits the 200-record cap immediately and gives you no way to separate the populations. Additionally, General Preventive Medicine returns zero — there is no CMS taxonomy string by that name. The canonical general string is Public Health & General Preventive Medicine, ampersand required.
Preventive medicine in the NPI registry: real counts from 9 markets
We queried the CMS NPI API v2.1 on June 13, 2026 for
taxonomy_description=Public+Health+%26+General+Preventive+Medicine
across nine representative markets. The 200+ cap means actual totals exceed 200 and are unknown from this endpoint alone.
| Market | Query scope | NPI records returned | At 200-record cap? |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY | City filter | 65 | No (complete) |
| Los Angeles, CA | City filter | 62 | No (complete) |
| Chicago, IL | City filter | 67 | No (complete) |
| Houston, TX | City filter | 32 | No (complete) |
| Phoenix, AZ | City filter | 91 | No (complete) |
| Nashville, TN | City filter | 27 | No (complete) |
| Memphis, TN | City filter | 8 | No (complete) |
| Vermont (statewide) | State filter | 6 | No (complete) |
| Wyoming (statewide) | State filter | 4 | No (complete) |
Source: CMS NPI API v2.1, taxonomy_description=Public+Health+%26+General+Preventive+Medicine, June 13, 2026. Download raw counts.
No market in this dataset hit the 200-record cap — preventive medicine is one of the few physician specialties where every city query returns a complete, uncapped result set. A rep covering the Phoenix metro, for instance, has exactly 91 physicians in their call list with no uncertainty about missing records.
NPI-1 individual providers: 6 | NPI-2 organizational accounts: 2
Sample NPI-1 records: 1972034973 (M.D., PhD, MS, MPH), 1457478521 (M.D.), 1255565305 (M.D.)
Sample NPI-2 records: 1245322395 (public health agency), 1881582641 (multi-specialty clinic)
Primary taxonomy on all physician records: Preventive Medicine, Public Health & General Preventive Medicine
NUCC code confirmed from records: 2083P0901X
One record (NPI 1134450307) had an FNP-BC credential appearing via secondary taxonomy match — this is credential noise; the primary taxonomy was Nurse Practitioner, Family. Filter by credential or primary taxonomy to isolate MD/DO physicians.
Source: npi-preventive-medicine-memphis-tn-raw.json
The Preventive Medicine taxonomy umbrella
NUCC groups preventive medicine as a parent specialty with five distinct sub-codes. A bare
Preventive Medicine prefix query returns all five populations combined and hits
the 200-record cap immediately, obscuring the true composition of any one sub-specialty.
| NUCC Taxonomy Description | NUCC Code | National sample count | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Public Health & General Preventive Medicine |
2083P0901X | 200+ (capped) | General preventive medicine physicians — the correct string for this guide |
Occupational Medicine |
2083X0100X | 200+ (capped) | Workplace-injury and occupational-health physicians; see the Occupational Medicine guide |
Aerospace Medicine |
2083A0100X | 200+ (capped) | Aviation and military flight surgeons — a niche call list distinct from civilian preventive medicine |
Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine |
2083H0002X | 200+ (capped) | Hyperbaric oxygen therapy physicians; present in wound care centers and military facilities |
Preventive Medicine/Occupational Environmental Medicine |
2083T0002X | 200+ (capped) | Environmental medicine sub-specialty; often academic or regulatory practice settings |
| General Preventive Medicine (gotcha) | — | 0 | No NUCC code exists with this string. Returns zero results. Confirmed June 13, 2026. |
Source: CMS NPI API v2.1 taxonomy_description queries, June 13, 2026. Download full summary.
How to search for preventive medicine doctors step by step
Use the exact string — ampersand included
The CMS taxonomy string is Public Health & General Preventive Medicine.
The ampersand is significant; omitting it returns zero results. In a direct API call,
encode it as %26:
# Correct — returns physicians in Memphis TN https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/api/?version=2.1 &taxonomy_description=Public+Health+%26+General+Preventive+Medicine &city=Memphis&state=TN&limit=200 # Wrong — returns 0 results &taxonomy_description=General+Preventive+Medicine # Trap — returns mixed umbrella population (5 sub-codes combined) &taxonomy_description=Preventive+Medicine
Plan for sparse counts — statewide queries often beat city filters
Even a large metro like Memphis returned only 8 records. In Wyoming (4 statewide), a city filter would miss physicians who bill from rural addresses but serve the whole state. Start with a statewide query for any state below 50 total records, then narrow by zip radius if you need to prioritize within the state.
Check the taxonomy description field, not just the count
Because the umbrella query mixes all five sub-codes, filtering on the taxonomy description field in each record is the only way to confirm which sub-specialty you have. In the Memphis raw data, every physician record showed the full taxonomy description as Preventive Medicine, Public Health & General Preventive Medicine — confirming the correct population. Records with a different description string are sub-specialty noise from a secondary taxonomy match.
Identify the right sub-specialty if Occupational Medicine is your target
If your product has an occupational or workplace-health angle, the Occupational Medicine
sub-code (2083X0100X) is a separate query with its own call list. See the
Occupational Medicine guide
for its own gotcha: querying Occupational Health returns chiropractors, RNs,
and NPs — not physicians.
Export to CSV (Pro)
Pro users can export the full result set as a CSV file with all NPI fields — NPI, Name, Credential, Address, City, State, Zip, Phone, Entity Type — ready to import into a CRM or prospecting sheet.
getdork sends the correct Public Health & General Preventive Medicine string automatically, handles zip-radius filtering, and returns a clean list with no umbrella-query noise.
Radius guidance for a preventive medicine territory
Preventive medicine is a sparse specialty where standard urban-density radius rules do not apply in the usual way — you will never hit the 200-record cap regardless of radius. The practical question is how to avoid missing physicians who are geographically spread.
- Small states (Wyoming, Vermont, Vermont-adjacent): Run statewide. These states have 4–6 total records. A zip-radius filter would miss any physician who bills from a government or academic address outside your target zip area.
- Mid-size metros (Memphis, Nashville, Houston): 50-mile radius captures the metro and surrounding counties without needing a statewide query. Memphis returned 8 city records; suburban and county physicians may not bill from a Memphis city address.
- Large metros (NYC, Chicago, LA, Phoenix): A 25-mile radius is appropriate. These cities returned 62–91 records — a manageable complete list at that radius.
Frequently asked questions
Why does "General Preventive Medicine" return zero NPI results?
The CMS NPI registry has no taxonomy string called "General Preventive Medicine." We confirmed this live on June 13, 2026 — that query returns zero records. The correct CMS string for a general preventive medicine physician is "Public Health & General Preventive Medicine" (NUCC code 2083P0901X). The ampersand is required. The full string is the canonical label; no shortened form matches.
What does the bare "Preventive Medicine" prefix query actually return?
The bare prefix "Preventive Medicine" prefix-matches all five sub-codes in the NUCC Preventive Medicine group and returns a mixed population in a single capped response: Public Health & General Preventive Medicine, Occupational Medicine, Aerospace Medicine, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine, and Preventive Medicine/Occupational Environmental Medicine. All five sub-codes return 200+ records nationally, so a bare umbrella query hits the cap immediately and gives you no way to separate the populations without filtering each record's taxonomy description field. Use the umbrella only if you deliberately need all five sub-specialties; otherwise, query each sub-code individually.
How sparse is preventive medicine in a typical territory?
Preventive medicine is among the smallest physician specialties in the NPI registry. From our June 13, 2026 queries for Public Health & General Preventive Medicine: Memphis TN returned 8 records; Wyoming statewide returned 4; Vermont statewide returned 6. Even major metros are moderate: New York City returned 65 records, Los Angeles 62, Chicago 67. Phoenix was highest at 91, reflecting a public-health-credentialed workforce tied to state agencies and academic health programs. A rep with a preventive medicine call list typically has a complete statewide count, not a capped one.
What credentials appear in a Public Health & General Preventive Medicine NPI query?
Preventive medicine physicians hold MD or DO degrees, often combined with a Master of Public Health (MPH). In our Memphis raw data (8 records), credentials included "MD", "M.D.", "MD, PhD, MS, MPH", and "M.D., M.P.H." — the dual degree reflects ACGME residency program requirements. Two Memphis records were NPI-2 organizational accounts (a public health agency and a multi-specialty clinic). One record had an FNP-BC credential from a secondary taxonomy match — filter by credential to isolate MD/DO physicians for a pharma or device call list.
Are preventive medicine physicians the right call list for a vaccine or screening product?
It depends on the product. General preventive medicine physicians practice in employee health programs, academic public health departments, and government agencies — they are not primarily outpatient prescribers. For a vaccine or adult screening product, Family Medicine (207Q00000X) and Internal Medicine (207R00000X) typically represent a larger, more accessible prescriber base. Preventive medicine physicians are the right target when your product addresses employer-mandated health programs, travel medicine, or population-health contract formularies. Use the Public Health & General Preventive Medicine string to identify them; supplement with Occupational Medicine (2083X0100X) if the product has a workplace-health angle.
What radius should I use for a preventive medicine territory?
Preventive medicine is among the least density-constrained specialties for radius planning because providers are so sparse that even wide radii return the full statewide count in rural areas. In rural states (Wyoming: 4 statewide), a statewide query is more practical than any zip-based radius. In mid-size metros (Memphis: 8 city), a 50-mile radius will capture the metro area completely. In denser cities (NYC: 65, Phoenix: 91), a 25-mile radius works. The NPI public API does not do radius math — getdork's Haversine filtering handles this automatically.
Methodology
All data on this page was retrieved from the CMS NPI Registry API v2.1
(npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov) on
June 13, 2026. No authentication is required to access this API. Queries used
taxonomy_description=Public+Health+%26+General+Preventive+Medicine with city
or state filters. Subspecialty samples used the explicit sub-code strings listed in the
taxonomy table above.
The API returns a maximum of 200 records per request. When result_count
equals 200, the true total exceeds 200 and cannot be determined from this endpoint alone.
When result_count is below 200, the result set is complete. The numeric
taxonomy= parameter (NUCC code) is silently ignored by the API — specialty
filtering only works via taxonomy_description=.
Raw API responses for Memphis TN and Wyoming statewide are available for download: Memphis raw JSON | Wyoming raw JSON | Data collection script (.ps1)
Related guides
- How to search the NPI registry
- What is an NPI number?
- How to find physicians by specialty and state
- Find Occupational Medicine doctors by zip code — the sister sub-specialty with its own non-physician noise trap
- Find Family Medicine doctors by zip code — the primary care alternative for broader prescriber coverage