Reference

How the filters work

A radar is a list of conditions, all of which must be true. Several conditions on the same field stack, so you can include and exclude in one search.

A worked example

Surgeons within 30 miles of midtown Manhattan, excluding two neighbouring states and nurse practitioners, male, registered this decade

/radar?f=zip:within:10036&radius=30
      &f=state:not:NJ,CT
      &f=specialty:like:*surgeon*
      &f=credential:not:NP
      &f=sex:is:M
      &f=registered:gte:2020

Run this search

Conditions

Condition	Meaning
`is`	Matches any of the values you give
`not`	Excludes those values
`like`	Wildcard match — `surgeon` matches anywhere in the name
`notlike`	Excludes anything matching the pattern
`gte` / `lte`	On or after / on or before, for years and counts
`within`	Inside a radius, for locations

Registry filters

Location

A ZIP code plus a radius in miles. Distances are measured between ZIP centroids, so a large rural ZIP may extend beyond the circle.

Filter	What it does
`zip:within:10036 (radius 30)`	Everything within 30 miles of midtown Manhattan · try it
`zip:within:33131 (radius 5)`	A tight circle around downtown Miami · try it
`zip:within:60601 (radius 50)`	Greater Chicago, wide enough to include the suburbs · try it
`zip:within:99501 (radius 100)`	Anchorage and everything reachable from it · try it

Conditions available: within

State

One or more two-letter state codes, separated by commas. Use "is not" to carve out states you do not cover.

Filter	What it does
`state:is:NY`	Only New York · try it
`state:is:NY,NJ,CT`	The tri-state area · try it
`state:not:NJ,CT`	Everywhere except New Jersey and Connecticut · try it
`state:is:CA`	California, the largest single market · try it

Conditions available: is, not

City

Matches the city exactly as the provider filed it with CMS, which is often a suburb rather than the metro name.

Filter	What it does
`city:is:Newark`	Providers whose practice address says Newark · try it
`city:is:Brooklyn,Queens`	Two boroughs at once · try it
`city:not:Miami`	The surrounding area but not the city itself · try it
`city:is:Beverly Hills`	A single affluent submarket · try it

Conditions available: is, not

Specialty

A taxonomy code, or a term matched against taxonomy names. Terms fall back to word stems, so "surgeon" finds "Surgery".

Filter	What it does
`specialty:like:surgeon`	Every surgical specialty, about thirty taxonomies · try it
`specialty:is:2084P0800X`	Psychiatry exactly, by code · try it
`specialty:like:cardio`	Cardiology and its subspecialties · try it
`specialty:notlike:student`	Everything except those in training · try it

Conditions available: is, not, like, notlike

Credential

The credential class derived from what the provider filed. MD and DO are physicians; NP and PA prescribe in most states.

Filter	What it does
`credential:is:MD,DO`	Physicians only · try it
`credential:is:NP`	Nurse practitioners, the fastest-growing group · try it
`credential:not:NP,PA`	Exclude mid-level clinicians · try it
`credential:is:MD`	Allopathic physicians only · try it

Conditions available: is, not

Sex

From the registry's sex field. Populated for most individual providers.

Filter	What it does
`sex:is:F`	Female providers · try it
`sex:is:M`	Male providers · try it
`sex:not:M`	Everyone not recorded as male, including blanks · try it

Conditions available: is, not

On registry since

The year CMS issued the NPI. A proxy for entering practice, not a start date — someone changing employer keeps the same NPI.

Filter	What it does
`registered:gte:2024`	Registered in the last couple of years · try it
`registered:gte:2020`	Everyone who joined this decade · try it
`registered:lte:1999`	Long-established providers · try it
`registered:gte:2015`	Mid-career and newer · try it

Conditions available: gte, lte

Sole proprietor

Whether the provider enrolled as a sole proprietor. A useful proxy for whether they buy for themselves or for an employer.

Filter	What it does
`solo:is:Yes`	Independent practitioners who make their own purchasing decisions · try it
`solo:is:No`	Employed or group-affiliated providers · try it

Conditions available: is

Practice locations

How many practice locations the registry lists. More than one usually means a multi-site group or a travelling clinician.

Filter	What it does
`sites:gte:2`	Practises at more than one location · try it
`sites:gte:5`	Highly distributed, often locum or telehealth · try it
`sites:lte:1`	A single location · try it

Conditions available: gte, lte

Licensed in at least

Distinct licence states across all taxonomies a provider filed. An undercount — most register one licence even when they hold several.

Filter	What it does
`states_licensed:gte:2`	Licensed in more than one state · try it
`states_licensed:gte:5`	Serious multi-state coverage, usually telehealth · try it
`states_licensed:gte:3`	Likely to work across a region · try it

Conditions available: gte

Doctors and Clinicians filters

These come from a second CMS file covering clinicians enrolled in Medicare, which is loaded and current. They work exactly like the filters above, but only match providers who appear in that file — roughly one in five of the registry.

Telehealth

From the CMS Doctors and Clinicians file: whether the clinician told Medicare they offer telehealth. Self-reported and updated irregularly.

Filter	What it does
`telehealth:is:Yes`	Clinicians who report offering telehealth · try it
`telehealth:is:No`	In-person only, by their own report · try it

Conditions available: is

Accepts Medicare assignment

Individual Medicare assignment. A group accepting assignment does not mean the clinician does, so this is the individual answer.

Filter	What it does
`medicare:is:Yes`	Accepts Medicare assignment · try it
`medicare:is:No`	Does not accept assignment individually · try it

Conditions available: is

Medical school

Medical school as recorded by CMS. Foreign-trained physicians are mostly coded "OTHER", so absence is not evidence.

Filter	What it does
`school:like:harvard`	Anyone whose school name contains Harvard · try it
`school:like:state university`	State university systems · try it
`school:notlike:OTHER`	Exclude the uncoded bucket, mostly foreign-trained · try it
`school:like:johns hopkins`	A single institution · try it

Conditions available: like, notlike

Graduated

Graduation year from the DAC file. Closer to career stage than registration year, but only covers clinicians enrolled in Medicare.

Filter	What it does
`graduated:gte:2020`	Recently qualified · try it
`graduated:lte:1995`	Thirty years or more in practice · try it
`graduated:gte:2010`	Mid-career and newer · try it

Conditions available: gte, lte

Group size

Number of clinicians in the group the provider is affiliated with, from the DAC file.

Filter	What it does
`groupsize:lte:5`	Small practices, where one person decides · try it
`groupsize:gte:50`	Large groups and hospital-owned practices · try it
`groupsize:lte:1`	Effectively solo · try it

Conditions available: gte, lte

Two things worth knowing

Wildcards fall back to word stems. People type the practitioner, CMS names the practice: *surgeon* matches nothing literally, because every relevant taxonomy says "Surgery". When a literal match finds nothing, the first four characters of each word are compared instead. A wildcard that does match literally still means exactly what it says.

A filter matching nothing is reported, not ignored. A mistyped specialty would otherwise silently widen the search to everything, which is the worst way for a prospect list to be wrong.