Evaluation of a method to identify midwives in national provider identifier data

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Comparison of national midwife workforce data from the National Provider Identifier file determined it undercounted midwives compared to national data available from the American Midwifery Certification Board. This undercount may be due to the existence of three taxonomy categories for midwives when registering for the National Provider Identifier. The objective of this study was to obtain an accurate count of advanced practice midwives using the National Provider Identifier Data. Methods A recode strategy was created using the NPPES Data Dissemination File for November 7, 2021. The strategy identified advanced practice midwives using education and certification information provided in the “credentials” field. The strategy was validated using the NPPES Data Dissemination File for August 7, 2022 and the gold standard was the American Midwifery Certification Board count of midwives by state for August, 2022. Validation compared the accuracy and precision of the recode to the accuracy and precision of using the advanced practice midwife taxonomy category. Results The recode strategy improved the accuracy and precision of the count of advanced practice midwives compared to the identification of advanced practice midwives using the advanced practice midwife taxonomy category. Conclusions for practice Recoding the NPPES Data Dissemination File provides a more accurate and precise count of advanced practice midwives than relying on the existing advanced practice midwife taxonomy classification. Researchers can use the NPPES Data Dissemination File when studying the midwifery workforce.