Hospice and Palliative Medicine (Internal Medicine) Physician: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

An internal medicine physician with special knowledge and skills to prevent and relieve the suffering experienced by patients with life-limiting illnesses. This specialist works with an interdisciplinary hospice or palliative care team to maximize quality of life while addressing physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of both patient and family throughout the course of the disease, through the dying process, and beyond for the family. This specialist has expertise in the assessment of patients with advanced disease; the relief of distressing symptoms; the coordination of interdisciplinary patient and family-centered care in diverse venues; the use of specialized care systems including hospice; the management of the imminently dying patient; and legal and ethical decision making in end-of-life care.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, the sole-proprietor share should be read as a measure of how records report ownership status, not as a direct count of physicians in private practice. The field is self-reported in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy because it does not fully capture employment, group ownership, or the setting in which hospice and palliative care is delivered. Use it to describe NPPES records rather than to infer why physicians practice in a particular way.

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 record counts, and a primary taxonomy assignment does not capture every specialty or role associated with a provider.
• - NPPES records and reported ownership status can be updated, so counts may change over time.
• - Sole-proprietor status is not a direct measure of private practice, independent clinical work, or employment setting.
• 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