Anatomic Pathology & Clinical Pathology Physician: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

A pathologist deals with the causes and nature of disease and contributes to diagnosis, prognosis and treatment through knowledge gained by the laboratory application of the biologic, chemical and physical sciences. A pathologist uses information gathered from the microscopic examination of tissue specimens, cells and body fluids, and from clinical laboratory tests on body fluids and secretions for the diagnosis, exclusion and monitoring of disease.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, the reported 13.1% sole-proprietor share describes records with that NPPES flag, not a direct count of pathologists working in private practice. The flag is a self-reported NPPES field and an imperfect proxy for private practice because it does not by itself show employment, ownership, affiliation, or the full structure of a physician's practice.

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.
• - These are active NPI records with this primary taxonomy, not necessarily a count of unique physicians, practices, laboratories, or locations.
• - A taxonomy assignment reflects the primary classification on the record and may not represent every service, subspecialty, or role performed by a pathologist.
• 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