The Delaware Health Force (DHF) database created by the Delaware Academy of Medicine / Delaware Public Health Association (Academy/DPHA) includes a list of every licensed healthcare provider actively practicing in Delaware, as well as those who have ever practiced in the state, regardless of whether they now practice somewhere else, are retired, have had their license suspended or revoked, or are deceased. The list of provider names used to create the database was populated from DELPROS, the Delaware Division of Professional Regulations online public database.
Whenever possible, the DHF database lists the following information by provider NPI number:
License Number(s),
License Type(s),
License Status,
Practitioner Specialty
Practice Location,
Medical School and/or Residency Location (when applicable),
Graduation Year and Years of Practice,
Medicare/Medicaid Acceptance,
Practice Proprietorship, and
Contact Information.
This data will then be integrated with health outcomes, demographics, and other data to allow for real-time and predictive data modeling to inform decision and policy.
Below is a list of similar local and national databases, with bullet point information about the information available and comparisons to the DHCW database.
Connecticut
Connecticut Healthcare Workforce Scan
http://www.healthreform.ct.gov/ohri/lib/ohri/sim/work_force/ct_healthcare_workforce_scan.pdf
Detailed description of how healthcare workforce data was collected and analyzed
Limited types of practitioners – Similar to Maryland, not as in depth as Delpros
Significant portions of the data are estimates based on national data
Data sources contradict one another
Double counted physicians who practiced in multiple locations
Maryland
Maryland Medical Programs
https://encrypt.emdhealthchoice.org/searchable/main.action
Requires search to find providers – all searches include hospitals/locations unless a provider’s name is searched, or if the “only PCP” option is selected, however this limits the search options and doesn’t include other HCP’s.
Provider search engine for patients
Greater focus on access to care for individuals and less focus on compiling provider info
[Maryland] Medical Care Database
https://mhcc.maryland.gov/mhcc/pages/apcd/apcd_data_release/apcd_data_release_mcdb.aspx
Stringent process for accessing data- not much information could be obtained
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Cost prohibitive for small organizations that could benefit from this data
$4,000/year for nonprofits + $1,000/year for re-use rights
Based on claims data
Maryland Healthcare Workforce Study Phase II
Detailed description of how healthcare workforce data was collected and analyzed
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Limited types of practitioners – Physicians (Family Medicine, Geriatrics, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics), Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Physician Assistants, Pharmacists, Nurses, Dentists
Record detail is not equivalent to Delpros
Detailed population level data / assessment of healthcare workforce shortages by county
New Jersey
New Jersey Healthcare Profile
Only includes physicians
Provider search engine for patients
No broad search for county/zip available to create lists of doctors for data collection
No data files
New Jersey Hospital Association
https://www.njha.com/membership/list-of-nj-providers/hospitals/
Full roster of hospitals, medical centers, and rehab facilities, and their locations/phone numbers
Provider search engine for patients
Links to individual websites for each facility
No data files
New York
New York State Health Care Reform Act
https://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/hcra/provider/provhosp.htm
Full roster of General Hospitals
Population health data files but no provider data files
The New York State Health Care Provider Database: A Framework for Action
https://www.nyspma.org/aws/NYSPMA/asset_manager/get_file/103473
Nearly identical in concept to the DHF, completed in 2014
Created a database of all licensed physicians in the state and included location/specialty/age/etc.
Helped predict future shortages from aging practitioner populations
Helped increase access to care through state sponsored programs in healthcare shortage areas
Created links to community organizations serving the same patient populations
Used data collection during licensure, and many other sources to compile data
Fully Detailed blueprint of how to build a healthcare database
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services [Physician] Provider Directory
https://provider.directory.dpw.state.pa.us/ProviderSearch.aspx
Provider search engine for patients
Only includes physicians – searchable by specialty
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services – Human Services Provider Directory
https://www.humanservices.state.pa.us/HUMAN_SERVICE_PROVIDER_DIRECTORY/
Provider search engine for patients
Includes lists of organizations/services for various social service providers
Not searchable by individual providers, does not include medical care
Pennsylvania Licensing System Verification Service
https://www.pals.pa.gov/#/page/search
Provider search engine for licenses
Does not include practice location street address, only city/state/ZIP
Includes out-of-state practice locations
Does not include practitioner specialties
Pulse of Pennsylvania’s Workforce
https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Health-Planning/Pages/Reports.aspx
Individualized data reports on various categories of healthcare provision
Limited selection of healthcare provider categories
Data is old (2011-2015 data from 2012-2018 reports)
Reports are not generated annually
The 2018 Report only reported 2015 Dentist/Dental Hygienist data
The 2017 Report only reported 2014 Physician/Physician Assistant data
No new data since 2015
No new reports since 2018
Virginia
Virginia Healthcare Workforce Data Center
Profession specific workforce data reports
Uses self-report survey data to compile information for each report
High response rate on survey when administered during license registration
Data include ethnicity, age, location/population served, Virginia residency, specialties, and current work status (license status), as well as income/debt figures
Includes many of the same categories as DELPROS
Virginia Board of Medicine Practitioner Information
http://www.vahealthprovider.com/search.asp http://www.vahealthprovider.com/
Provider search engine for licenses/information
Required information includes location/phone, education, number of years in active practice, board certifications, hospital affiliations, academic appointments, publications, Medicaid info, actions, felony convictions, paid claims in last 10 years
Information that is not required includes insurance plans, honors/awards, Medicare acceptance, and continuing education credits
Information is limited to physicians (MD, DO) and Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPM)
West Virginia
West Virginia Health Data Portal
http://portals.ncahd.org/wvhdp/
Map overlay tool with aggregate totals for county/zip of various types of healthcare practitioners
Includes food resources like farmers markets, food deserts, fast food
Includes healthcare locations, workforce trends, patient demographic information
Each map layer has several different stratifications to pick from
National
National Practitioner Database
https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov/analysistool/
Contains unnamed data on each of the states licensed healthcare providers
Inaccurate information for Delaware
NPDB total = 2,652 // DHF total = 50,422
Does contain the same categories as the DHF database
Only gives raw number of each type of provider
Counts are inaccurate
Does not specify specific license types (i.e. Family Nurse Practitioner, Paramedic, etc.)
Categories are not matchable with Delpros
CarePrecise
https://www.careprecise.com/state/delaware_healthcare_providers.htm
Contains named data on 6.7m providers across the country
Includes named data on over 20,000 providers in DE (6,000 less than HCW)
Includes NPI number, practice location, specialty information, Medicare acceptance, and wealth level of population in area served
Does not include Medical school/residency information, or years of practice/graduation year
Only includes those actively practicing in Delaware
Updated monthly (subscription service costs approximately $900/year for national data)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/search?theme=Doctors%20and%20clinicians
Data file with over 1 million records (only 2,400 from Delaware – very limited)
Includes NPI number, practice location, specialty information, medical school and year of graduation, some phone numbers
United States Health Workforce State Profiles
https://bhw.hrsa.gov/data-research/review-health-workforce-research/state-profiles
Individual PDF files for each state, with total number of each type of provider and per capita
Includes most of the same categories as Delpros
Data is inaccurate
Delaware is missing several categories
Data was not updated from 2011-2015