Geriatric Medicine (Family Medicine) Physician: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

A family medicine physician with special knowledge of the aging process and special skills in the diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive and rehabilitative aspects of illness in the elderly. This specialist cares for geriatric patients in the patient's home, the office, long-term care settings such as nursing homes, and the hospital.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, 509 of 2,934 active records, or 17.3%, carry the NPPES sole-proprietor flag. This self-reported field is an imperfect proxy for private practice because it does not by itself establish ownership, employment arrangement, independence, or how geriatric services are delivered.

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 records are not a direct measure of unique physicians, clinical FTEs, or patient volume.
• The primary taxonomy may not capture every clinician who provides geriatric care.
• Enumeration-year counts show when NPIs were first issued, not when clinicians entered practice or began offering geriatric care.
• 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