Registered Respiratory Therapist: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

A Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) is an advanced therapist who has passed standardized written and clinical simulation examinations administered by the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC). In addition, to the certified therapist (CRT) entry level skills, RRTs have advanced education and training in patient assessment, in the development and modification of patient care plans, and in assuring the appropriate utilization of respiratory care resources. An RRT is a graduate of an associate or baccalaureate degree producing educational programs approved by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and where applicable, is licensed by the state and is practicing within the scope of that license.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For RRT records, the sole-proprietor share identifies records whose NPPES data are flagged as sole proprietors; it is a practice-structure indicator, not a count of RRTs working in private practice. Because the field is self-reported and may not capture employment arrangements, group practices, or organizational relationships, use it as an imperfect proxy rather than a direct measure of independent clinical work or ownership.

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 the RRT taxonomy as primary, not a guaranteed count of unique clinicians, jobs, practices, or patient care volume.
• - State totals reflect NPPES location data, while enumeration counts describe first NPI issuance rather than workforce entry, current employment, or demand.
• 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