Malpractice Accountability
2,855 federally excluded physicians still maintain active provider records. Cross-referencing OIG exclusion lists against the national provider registry.
Published March 19, 2026
Key Findings
- 2,855 federally excluded physicians still maintain active National Provider Identifier (NPI) records
- 149 physicians convicted of patient abuse or neglect have active NPI records
- 202 convicted of felony healthcare fraud maintain active provider identifiers
- 716 excluded physicians (25%) migrated to a different state after exclusion
This investigation cross-references federal exclusion records against the national provider registry to identify physicians who are federally excluded from Medicare/Medicaid but still maintain active National Provider Identifier (NPI) records.
Methodology
Excluded physicians from the OIG LEIE are matched against active NPI records in the CMS NPPES using a multi-tier matching approach: NPI direct match (highest confidence), name + state + DOB match, and name + state match with confidence modifiers for name commonality and ZIP overlap.
Results are further cross-referenced against state medical board disciplinary actions (NY OPMC, CA DHCS) and CMS Open Payments data to identify excluded physicians who also received industry payments or state-level sanctions.
Explore by State
Each state has a detailed factsheet with per-capita rates, exclusion type breakdowns, migration patterns, and priority cases. Browse all states.
Downloads
For newsrooms: the full dataset is available on request. Contact editor@thepublicledgers.org.