Key Findings from the 2026 HCPContacts Dataset
The findings below describe records in the HCPContacts database as of the September 2026 snapshot. They describe the dataset, not the total U.S. healthcare workforce.
9.5M+
healthcare contact records are represented in the September 2026 HCPContacts snapshot, including 7.4M+ individual healthcare professionals and 1.9M+ healthcare organizations.
1.2M+
physician contact records are represented across 250+ specialties and taxonomies.
Primary care leads
Internal Medicine (77,563) and Family Medicine (73,738) are the two largest physician specialties among the 20 analyzed, well ahead of the third, Anesthesiology (49,860).
412,000
pharmacist records make pharmacists the largest non-physician professional category among those analyzed, ahead of registered nurses (316,000) and physical therapists (189,000).
About half
as many nurse practitioner records (154,000) as registered nurse records (316,000) are represented, and physician assistant records number 71,000.
Surgical specialties
Orthopedic Surgery (19,647) is the largest surgical specialty analyzed, followed by Urology (16,346), Neurosurgery (12,811) and Vascular Surgery (8,576).
27,524
hospital CEO records are represented, more than twice the number of records for chief nursing officers (11,672), hospital HR directors (10,579) or hospital CIOs (10,114).
50 States + DC
Database coverage spans all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Healthcare Professionals Represented in the HCPContacts Database
The September 2026 snapshot contains 7.4M+ records for individual healthcare professionals. These span physicians, nurses and advanced practice clinicians, pharmacists, therapists, dental professionals and many other roles.
The table highlights six of the largest professional categories. It is a selection, not a breakdown of the 7.4M+ total, so the rows do not add up to it and are not shown as shares of it.
| Healthcare Professional Category | HCPContacts Records |
|---|---|
| Physicians | 1.2M+ |
| Pharmacists | 412,000 |
| Registered Nurses | 316,000 |
| Physical Therapists | 189,000 |
| Nurse Practitioners | 154,000 |
| Physician Assistants | 71,000 |
Physician Specialties Represented in the HCPContacts Database
The database holds 1.2M+ physician contact records classified across 250+ specialties and taxonomies. This report analyzes 20 of those specialties. Internal Medicine has the most records among them, with 77,563.
- Internal Medicine77,563
- Family Medicine73,738
- Anesthesiology49,860
- Pediatrics48,946
- Psychiatry40,123
- Cardiology30,583
- Ophthalmology24,332
- Pulmonology22,903
- Pathology21,281
- Dermatology19,969
| Physician Specialty | HCPContacts Records |
|---|---|
| Internal Medicine | 77,563 |
| Family Medicine | 73,738 |
| Anesthesiology | 49,860 |
| Pediatrics | 48,946 |
| Psychiatry | 40,123 |
| Cardiology | 30,583 |
| Ophthalmology | 24,332 |
| Pulmonology | 22,903 |
| Pathology | 21,281 |
| Dermatology | 19,969 |
| Orthopedic Surgery | 19,647 |
| Oncology | 17,014 |
| Gastroenterology | 16,744 |
| Urology | 16,346 |
| Neurosurgery | 12,811 |
| Nephrology | 12,725 |
| Neurology | 12,392 |
| Hematology | 10,309 |
| Endocrinology | 9,686 |
| Vascular Surgery | 8,576 |
What the Specialty Data Shows
Primary Care
The three primary care specialties analyzed include the two largest in the dataset. Internal Medicine and Family Medicine each exceed 70,000 records, and Pediatrics is fourth overall. Primary care is the broadest physician audience in this data.
Hospital-Based and Diagnostic Specialties
Anesthesiology is the third-largest specialty analyzed, just ahead of Pediatrics. Pathology, a largely laboratory-based specialty, has more records than several patient-facing specialties such as Dermatology and Oncology.
Medical Specialties
Psychiatry and Cardiology are the largest medical specialties analyzed, each above 30,000 records. Most organ-system specialties, from Pulmonology to Endocrinology, fall between roughly 10,000 and 23,000 records.
Surgical Specialties
Ophthalmology, which combines medical and surgical eye care, has the most records of this group. Among the surgical specialties, Orthopedic Surgery is largest and Vascular Surgery is the smallest specialty in the whole table.
Specialty counts can overlap where a physician holds more than one specialty, and the 20 specialties shown do not add up to the 1.2M+ physician total.
Nursing and Advanced Practice Professionals
Registered nurses are the largest nursing category in the dataset with 316,000 records. Nurse practitioners follow with 154,000, roughly half as many, and physician assistants with 71,000.
- Registered Nurses316,000
- Nurse Practitioners154,000
- Physician Assistants71,000
- Oncology Nurses47,000
- Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs)20,000
- Cardiac Care Nurses7,000+
| Professional Category | HCPContacts Records |
|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | 316,000 |
| Nurse Practitioners | 154,000 |
| Physician Assistants | 71,000 |
| Oncology Nurses | 47,000 |
| Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) | 20,000 |
| Cardiac Care Nurses | 7,000+ |
Oncology nurses, nurse anesthetists and cardiac care nurses are specialty categories. A specialty nurse can also be counted under a broader category such as registered nurses, so these rows should not be added together. See also our nurses data.
Dental Professionals Represented in the Database
Dental hygienists are the largest dental category analyzed, with 15,300 records, followed by periodontists (11,200) and orthodontists (10,100). Prosthodontists are the smallest, with 2,800.
| Dental Professional | HCPContacts Records |
|---|---|
| Dental Hygienists | 15,300 |
| Periodontists | 11,200 |
| Orthodontists | 10,100 |
| Pediatric Dentists | 8,200 |
| Endodontists | 7,100 |
| Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons | 6,700 |
| Prosthodontists | 2,800 |
Pharmacy and Therapy Professionals
Pharmacists are the largest professional category analyzed outside physicians, with 412,000 records. Physical therapists follow with 189,000. The other therapist categories analyzed each have between 22,000 and 34,000 records.
| Professional Category | HCPContacts Records |
|---|---|
| Pharmacists | 412,000 |
| Physical Therapists | 189,000 |
| Occupational Therapists | 34,000+ |
| Marriage & Family Therapists | 25,500+ |
| Respiratory Therapists | 22,000+ |
Healthcare Organizations Represented in HCPContacts
Alongside individual professionals, the database holds 1.9M+ records for healthcare organizations across many provider and facility types, including:
Dental laboratories are the only organization type with a published count in this edition. Other types are listed without numbers rather than estimated. Browse all healthcare facilities.
How These Terms Are Used
- Contact record
- One entry in the database. A record may describe a person or an organization.
- Healthcare professional
- A record describing an individual in a professional role, such as a physician, nurse or pharmacist.
- Healthcare organization
- A record describing an organization that provides care or serves the healthcare sector.
- Facility or location
- A physical site. One organization can operate several locations, so organization counts are not site counts.
Healthcare Executives and Decision-Makers
Hospital CEOs are the largest executive role analyzed, with 27,524 records, more than twice as many as chief nursing officers (11,672), hospital HR directors (10,579) or hospital CIOs (10,114).
- Hospital CEOs27,524
- Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs)11,672
- Hospital HR Directors10,579
- Hospital CIOs10,114
| Healthcare Executive Role | HCPContacts Records |
|---|---|
| Hospital CEOs | 27,524 |
| Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs) | 11,672 |
| Hospital HR Directors | 10,579 |
| Hospital CIOs | 10,114 |
Decision-Maker Functions
Beyond these four roles, healthcare executive and decision-maker records span functions such as:
Example job titles include CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, CTO, CNO, VP Nursing, Procurement Director, Purchasing Manager, Facilities Director, Plant Operations Director, HR Director, Lab Director, Pharmacy Director, Food Service Director.
Healthcare Data Coverage Across the United States
HCPContacts database coverage spans all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This edition reports national totals only; it does not publish state-by-state counts.
State-level data
A breakdown of professional, physician and organization records by state is planned for future research. It is not included here because no state-level counts were produced for the September 2026 snapshot.
What Information Can Healthcare Records Include?
Depending on the record and dataset, available fields may include:
Not every record contains every field. This report does not measure how often each field is present.
Putting the HCPContacts Dataset in U.S. Healthcare Context
The figures below come from U.S. government and industry sources, not from HCPContacts. They describe the U.S. healthcare workforce and hospital sector, and they measure different things from the database counts above.
9,823,860
Healthcare practitioner and technical jobs
3,379,720
Registered nurse jobs
23.9M
Health care sector payroll jobs
6,100
Hospitals in the United States
~1.9M
Projected healthcare job openings per year
Why Database Counts and Workforce Totals Differ
Government statistics count jobs or establishments using their own definitions. BLS occupational figures, for example, count wage-and-salary jobs and exclude the self-employed. A database count measures records held for a category. The two are not directly comparable and should not be used to calculate market share or coverage rates.
Research Methodology
- HCPContacts database
- September 2026
- United States, 50 States + District of Columbia
What the report measures
The number of records in the HCPContacts database, by category, as of the September 2026 snapshot. It measures database coverage, not the size of the U.S. healthcare workforce or the number of U.S. healthcare organizations.
Healthcare professional classification
Professional categories (for example registered nurses, pharmacists or physical therapists) reflect how records are classified in the HCPContacts database. The categories shown are a selection and do not add up to the 7.4M+ professional total.
Physician specialty classification
Specialty counts reflect the specialty assigned to each physician record. The 20 specialties shown are a subset of the 250+ specialties and taxonomies in the database, so they do not add up to the 1.2M+ physician total.
Healthcare organization classification
Organization records are counted separately from professional records. Only one organization type, dental laboratories, has a published count in this report; other types are described without numbers.
Healthcare executive classification
Executive counts reflect records classified under each role. A person holding more than one role could appear under more than one heading, so the roles are not summed.
Geographic coverage
The dataset covers the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This report does not break counts down by state.
Counting and aggregation
Figures are counts of records in each category. Headline totals are reported values, not sums of the categories below them.
Overlapping categories
A record can belong to more than one category, for example a broad nursing category and a specialty nursing category. Categories should not be added together.
Missing fields
Not every record contains every field. This report counts records by category and does not report field completeness.
Rounding
Some figures are shown rounded with a qualifier, such as 9.5M+ or 7,000+. The qualifier means the true count is at least the value shown.
Report updates
This is the 2026 edition, based on the September 2026 snapshot. When the report is updated, the edition year and snapshot date shown on this page will change with it.
Research Limitations
- HCPContacts counts are records available in the HCPContacts database as of the September 2026 snapshot.
- Unless an external source is named, figures in this report are not official estimates of the total U.S. healthcare workforce or of the number of U.S. healthcare organizations.
- Professional, specialty and job-function categories can overlap where a record qualifies for more than one classification, so categories should not be summed.
- Some fields are not available for every record.
- The categories shown are a selection. They are not a complete breakdown of the database.
How to Cite This Research
Please cite the report and link to this page:
HCPContacts. “U.S. Healthcare Data Report 2026.” HCPContacts Research, September 2026. https://www.hcpcontacts.com/research/us-healthcare-data-report/
Download the U.S. Healthcare Data Report 2026
A PDF edition of this report and an aggregate data file (.CSV) with category, subcategory, geography, count and snapshot date are in preparation. Neither will contain individual contact records.