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

National totals

What this specialty covers

An ophthalmologist has the knowledge and professional skills needed to provide comprehensive eye and vision care. Ophthalmologists are medically trained to diagnose, monitor and medically or surgically treat all ocular and visual disorders. This includes problems affecting the eye and its component structures, the eyelids, the orbit and the visual pathways. In so doing, an ophthalmologist prescribes vision services, including glasses and contact lenses.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For Ophthalmology Physician records, the sole-proprietor share is the portion whose NPPES sole-proprietor field is flagged, rather than a direct count of ophthalmologists in private practice. Because that field is self-reported and may reflect a particular billing or organizational arrangement, it is an imperfect proxy for private practice and should not be used to infer ownership, independence, or causation.

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.
• An NPI record is an administrative identifier, so the count may not equal the number of unique ophthalmologists or active clinical practices.
• NPPES location information may not capture every location where services are delivered, and first-enumeration year reflects NPI issuance rather than practice entry.
• 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