Gastroenterology Physician: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

An internist who specializes in diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the digestive organs including the stomach, bowels, liver and gallbladder. This specialist treats conditions such as abdominal pain, ulcers, diarrhea, cancer and jaundice and performs complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures using endoscopes to visualize internal organs.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For Gastroenterology Physician records, the sole-proprietor share indicates how many NPPES records identify the owner as a sole proprietor, not how many gastroenterologists work in private practice. It is a self-reported NPPES field and an imperfect proxy because registration status may differ from employment arrangement, practice ownership, or day-to-day clinical work.

By state

New NPI registrations by year

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

• The sole-proprietor field is self-reported by the provider in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy for private practice.
• A sole-proprietor count shown as <11 is suppressed: the true value is below 11, which could include zero.
• NPI counts are records and may not equal unique physicians, employed clinicians, or all clinicians who provide gastroenterology care.
• First-enumeration totals describe when NPIs were first issued, not necessarily when a physician entered practice or began practicing gastroenterology.
• Providers are counted once, by their primary taxonomy code only.

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions