NAICS code for physical therapy: 621340, not 621399

This page is for physical therapy owners and practice managers filling in a bank, insurer or landlord form, SAM.gov or a tax return, and for sellers building lists of PT practices. It covers the NAICS and SIC codes, the therapy businesses coded elsewhere, the provider taxonomy codes payers ask for, Census counts and public companies.

The physical therapy code: 621340

The Census Bureau defines 621340 as independent health practitioners providing physical therapy to patients with impairments, functional limitations, disabilities or changes in physical function from injury, disease or other causes, or who need prevention, wellness or fitness services. The same code covers occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, audiologists and recreational therapists (art, dance and music).

Two details in the definition matter for edge cases. Practitioners can operate "in their own offices (e.g., centers, clinics) or in the facilities of others, such as hospitals or HMO medical centers," so a PT company staffing a clinic inside a gym or hospital is still 621340. And the index lists sports physical therapists, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists and equestrian physical therapists.

621399, Offices of All Other Miscellaneous Health Practitioners, is a common wrong answer. Its definition covers health practitioners "except ... physical, occupational, and speech therapists," along with several other groups; it's for acupuncturists, dietitians, midwives, massage therapists' offices and similar practices.

Therapy businesses that use another code

The home visit rows follow the Census cross-reference for 621610: in-home services by practitioners in independent practice are classified in their own practitioner code (6213 for therapists), while 621610 is for agencies whose core service is skilled nursing; the home health care code page covers that side. For an orthopedic group, the code follows the establishment's main activity: physician services, unless the PT clinic is a separate location with its own staff.

The SIC code for physical therapy

The 1987 SIC code is 8049, Offices and Clinics of Health Practitioners, NEC. It's wider than 621340: the Census concordance splits it three ways.

So a list pulled by SIC 8049 mixes PT practices with psychologists, counselors, acupuncturists and dietitians. Rehabilitation centers coded SIC 8093, Specialty Outpatient Facilities, NEC, map to 621399, 621410, 621420 or 621498, not 621340. The SEC's list has no 8049; listed outpatient therapy companies file under 8000, Services-Health Services, or 8093.

The codes payers ask for instead

Medicare, Medicaid and commercial payers don't use NAICS. They identify providers by National Provider Identifier and a provider taxonomy code from the National Uniform Claim Committee's code set:

From NUCC taxonomy version 26.1. When a credentialing form asks for your "code," it usually means the taxonomy code. When a bank, insurer or federal registration asks for an industry code, it means NAICS 621340.

How many physical therapy businesses there are

County Business Patterns counted 52,058 establishments in 621340 in 2023, employing 466,903 people with an annual payroll of $22.9 billion. That count includes OT, speech and audiology practices; Census doesn't publish PT on its own.

The top states are California (5,369), Florida (4,399), New York (4,013), Texas (3,286) and Illinois (2,545). Each clinic location counts separately, so a 40-clinic group counts 40 times, and a therapist practicing alone with no employees isn't counted. CBP uses NAICS 2017 codes, and 621340 didn't change in 2022.

Where the code is used

• Federal work. A federal contract for outpatient therapy services carries 621340 when therapy is its largest component (13 CFR 121.402). With a $12.5 million standard, a multi-clinic group can outgrow it quickly, and receipts of practices you acquire count for the whole five-year measurement period (13 CFR 121.104).
• Tax returns. The IRS business activity list uses 621340 unchanged.
• Leases, lenders and insurers. 621340 reads as therapy of any kind, so say physical therapy in the business description, and if you also run a gym, list 713940 as a secondary code.

Finding physical therapy practices

The NPI Registry, run by CMS, is the most complete public list: search organizations by the taxonomy "Physical Therapy" to find clinics with their addresses and practice locations. State PT licensing boards publish licensee lookups too. For public companies, the main names file under different SEC codes:

Most outpatient PT practices are privately owned. Bebop can search for them by description, such as outpatient physical therapy groups in Georgia with three or more clinics, and explain why each fits.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The practice and figures are invented.

Riverbend Physical Therapy (riverbend.example) runs four clinics with 48 staff. Last year's $8.6 million in receipts came from outpatient PT (84%), home visits by its own therapists (9%) and memberships at a small gym attached to one clinic (7%).

Its NAICS code is 621340, home visits included, with 713940 as a secondary code for the gym. Each clinic bills under an organization NPI with taxonomy 261QP2000X, and each therapist has an individual NPI with 225100000X.

Riverbend's receipts over five years were $5.9 million, $6.8 million, $7.4 million, $8.1 million and $8.6 million: $36.8 million, an average of $7.36 million, under the $12.5 million standard. If it buys a three-clinic practice with $5.5 million in average receipts, the combined average is $12.86 million for the whole period, and Riverbend is no longer small under 621340.

Next step: check the definition of any related code, such as 621610 or 622310, with the NAICS code lookup.