About This Data

Prescribing data from Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, known as Part D, was compiled and released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees the program. The data for 2016 includes more than 1.5 billion prescriptions written by 1.1 million doctors, nurses and other providers. This database lists over 460,000 of those providers who wrote 50 or more prescriptions for at least one drug that year. More than three-fourths of these prescriptions went to patients 65 and older; the rest were for disabled patients. Methodology »

Incorrect Info?

If you are a provider and you believe your address is incorrect, check the listing you created on the National Provider Identifier registry. If you change your listing, send a note to checkup@propublica.org and we will update your information. If you have other questions about this data, send a note to checkup@propublica.org.

Caveats

• No comparisons are shown if there are fewer than 20 prescribers in the state share this specialty.
• Comparisons do not take into account the medical conditions of patients. Medications for certain conditions do not have generic alternatives, so patients would receive more expensive brand name drugs.
• This provider's address and specialty information was last updated on Sept. 11, 2015.
• Comparisons are based on each provider’s current address, not necessarily where he or she worked during the time period covered in this database.
• In rare circumstances, providers' prescription tallies may be inflated. Sometimes providers are credited with prescriptions written by colleagues (this happens in long-term care facilities) or are victims of fraud involving theft of their provider number.