What proportion of the nation’s behavioral health providers are psychologists?

As a way to create uniformity in reimbursement for health-care services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services groups different types of providers.^1,2 Through its National Provider Identifier system, all health-care providers self-identify their professional field into one of various broad categories³, including behavioral and social science providers, which are the following: psychologist, psychiatrist⁴, counselor, social worker, marriage and family therapist, and other behavioral health related fields.^1,2

As of May 2014, about 510,000 identified themselves as behavioral and social science providers. About 16 percent of them were psychologists.^1,5,6

Approximately 78 percent of licensed psychologists are registered in the NPI database.^1,6,7 Registration for an NPI is not a requirement to provide services. Providers who do not receive reimbursement from CMS or other forms of insurance do not need an NPI.

— Auntré Hamp, MEd, MPH, Karen Stamm, PhD, Peggy Christidis, PhD, and Andrew Nigrinis, PhD

For more information, contact APA's Center for Workforce Studies.

1. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2014) National Provider Index Database [Data file accessed on 6/10/2014]. Retrieved from https://nppes.viva-it.com/NPI_Files.html

2. NPI's are currently required by most health insurances plans to qualify for reimbursement.

3. CMS utilizes the taxonomy code set maintained by the American National Standards Institute. The Health Care Provider Taxonomy Code Set can be found at: www.wpc-edi.com/reference/

4. For the purpose of this analysis, psychiatrists are counted in the behavioral health category.

5. The totals reported here underestimate the total number of professionals who provide health-related services. Those who are registered in the NPI database are eligible for reimbursement; the data reported here do not reflect the number of hours or amounts billed.

6. Data for this analysis include only individual providers and not organizational entities.

7. American Psychological Association (2014). 2012 APA state licensing board list. [Unpublished special analysis]. Washington, D.C.