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Glossary
21 professional licensing and workforce data terms used across this site.
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Active licence
A licence that is current and in good standing, as opposed to expired, inactive, suspended or revoked.
Board certification
A credential from a specialty board showing a physician has passed exams in a specialty. It is separate from the state licence to practise.
CMS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid and publishes the Doctors and Clinicians file.
CPA
Certified public accountant: an accountant licensed by a state board of accountancy after passing the Uniform CPA Examination.
Deactivated NPI
A National Provider Identifier that has been switched off, for example after a provider's death or retirement or at the provider's request.
Entity type
The NPPES field that marks a record as an individual (type 1) or an organization (type 2).
Insurance producer
The legal term for a person licensed by a state to sell, solicit or negotiate insurance, commonly called an insurance agent.
Licence number
The identifier a state board assigns to a licence holder, used to look up status and discipline.
Licensing board
A state body that issues, renews and disciplines licences for one profession, such as a medical board or real estate commission.
National Producer Number (NPN)
A unique number assigned by the NIPR to each insurance producer, used across all states in which the producer is licensed.
NPI
National Provider Identifier: a 10-digit number that every US healthcare provider who bills electronically must hold.
NPPES
The National Plan and Provider Enumeration System, the CMS registry that issues NPIs and publishes a monthly full file of every provider.
NUCC taxonomy
The code set maintained by the National Uniform Claim Committee that classifies healthcare providers by type and specialty.
Nurse practitioner (NP)
A registered nurse with graduate training who can diagnose and treat patients and, in many states, prescribe without physician supervision.
OEWS
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the BLS survey that estimates employment and wages by occupation for the US, states and metro areas.
Professional engineer (PE)
An engineer licensed by a state board after passing the licensing exams and meeting experience requirements, allowed to sign off on engineering work for the public.
Real estate broker
A real estate licensee allowed to run a brokerage and supervise salespersons. Salespersons must work under a broker.
Real estate salesperson
A real estate licensee who helps clients buy, sell or rent property under the supervision of a licensed broker.
Reciprocity
An arrangement under which one state accepts a licence issued by another, so the holder can get licensed with fewer steps.
SOC code
A Standard Occupational Classification code, the federal system for grouping jobs into occupations, used by BLS surveys.
Taxonomy code
A 10-character NUCC code on an NPPES record that states the provider's type and specialty. A record can carry up to 15.