You may have noticed a 10-digit number labeled “NPI” on this site. That’s the National Provider Identifier, and it’s a quick way to confirm that the doctor on a website is a real, currently registered provider.
What an NPI is
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services describes the NPI as “a unique identification number for covered health care providers.” It is a 10-digit number, required under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and nearly every physician, nurse practitioner, hospital, and clinic that bills insurance electronically has one.
What it’s used for
Health plans, providers, and clearinghouses have to use the NPI on the standard electronic transactions HIPAA covers, which in practice means the claims your insurance processes. When we bill your plan for a visit or an echocardiogram, the claim lists Dr. Patel’s NPI as the physician who provided the care.
Why we put it on the site
Dr. Patel’s NPI is 1760624951. We show it for 2 reasons.
The first is so you can check. The federal NPI Registry is free and public. Type the number in and you’ll see the registered name, the specialty on file, and the practice address.
The second is that third-party physician profiles are built from public records and sometimes carry an old address or a wrong suite number. The NPI doesn’t change when an office moves or a suite number gets mistyped, so if you’re trying to work out whether a listing is for the same Dr. Patel, match the number.
How to look up any provider
- Go to the NPI Registry .
- Enter the 10-digit number, or search by name and state.
- Check that the name, specialty, and location match the provider you expect to see.
For Dr. Patel, the registry shows his full legal name, Dipsu Dilip Patel, and the specialty on file as “Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease” (the general cardiology category in the taxonomy the registry uses). Interventional cardiology is his subspecialty within it. The practice location on file is the Texas City office. That doesn’t mean a provider only works at that one address. It’s the address they registered with. Dr. Patel’s number is the same at both offices.
What an NPI doesn’t tell you
An NPI confirms identity. It does not tell you whether a physician is board-certified, where they trained, or how many years they’ve practiced . For those, the American Board of Internal Medicine’s certification lookup and the Texas Medical Board’s license lookup are the sources.
Sources
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. National Provider Identifier Standard (NPI). Page last modified August 14, 2026. cms.gov
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. NPPES NPI Registry. Accessed September 8, 2026. npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov
