DEA and License Verification Guides
Practical guides for pharmacies, distributors, hospitals, clinics, and credentialing teams on verifying prescribers and other registrants with primary source data. Written by DEA Lookup.com, which has built primary source verification tools for over 15 years.
DEA verification
How to Verify a DEA Number
The DEA number format, the checksum formula with a worked example, why a valid checksum isn't proof of registration, and the ways to confirm an active registration.
What Is Primary Source Verification (PSV)? Why the Data Source Matters
What counts as a primary source for DEA registrations, state licenses, NPIs, and other credentials, current timing rules, and six questions to ask any verification service.
How to Choose a DEA Verification Service
A buyer's guide: your verification options compared, the criteria that matter, questions to ask any provider, and red flags to avoid.
State licenses and NPIs
How to Verify a State Medical License in All 50 States
A step-by-step process for verifying physician, PA, NP, dental, and pharmacist licenses with each state board, and what licensure compacts do and don't change.
DEA and NPI Cross-Referencing: How to Match Prescriber Identifiers
How DEA numbers and NPIs differ, why there is no official crosswalk between them, how to match prescribers reliably, and how to validate an NPI check digit.
Credentialing
Hospital and Clinic Credentialing: A Verification Checklist
What to verify at appointment and reappointment, NPDB query timing, monitoring between cycles, and how to handle telemedicine, temporary, and multistate providers.
Credentialing Standards Compared: NCQA, URAC, The Joint Commission, DNV, AAAHC, and CMS
The major credentialing standards side by side: who each covers, recredentialing cycles, verification and monitoring rules, where each allows flexibility, and where they conflict.
Distributors
How Distributors Verify DEA Registrations and State Licenses Before Shipping
The DEA, FDA, and state rules that require distributors to verify customers, what to check before every controlled substance shipment, and how to build verification into order systems.
Automation
How to Automate Provider Credential Verification: API vs. Manual
When to use manual search, batch validation, or an API, what to automate first, how it works for pharmacies, distributors, and hospitals, and what to look for in a verification API.
DEA Lookup.com is not affiliated with the Drug Enforcement Administration or any state licensing board. These guides are general information, not legal or compliance advice.