Peer Specialist: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

Individuals certified to perform peer support services through a training process defined by a government agency, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or a state mental health department/certification/licensing authority.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For Peer Specialists, the sole-proprietor share describes the portion of active records whose NPPES enrollment identifies the individual as a sole proprietor, not a direct count of people working in private practice. Because the field is self-reported and NPI records do not fully describe employment, contracting, or organizational arrangements, use it as an imperfect proxy rather than a definitive measure of private 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 figures count active NPI records, not necessarily unique people or currently practicing Peer Specialists.
• - A primary taxonomy listing does not by itself verify an individual's certification or training status.
• 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