Physician assistant contact data

Ben Argeband, Founder & CEO of Heartbeat.ai — Practical list building + outreach templates.

Who this is for

This is for recruiters sourcing PAs quickly who need reachable records (identity + contact + suppression), not a spreadsheet that looks big but can’t connect.

Buying static lists is risky because of decay; if you inherit one, treat it as a starting point and re-verify before outreach. The modern standard is Access + Refresh + Verification + Suppression.

PAs are clinicians, but they don’t behave like physicians in outreach. Their schedule patterns and decision drivers are different, so your targeting and message need to match.

Quick Answer

Core Answer

Build physician assistant contact data by anchoring identity on state license (and NPI when applicable), verifying phone/email reachability, then running compliant outreach with fast suppression.

Key Insight

Identity first, contact second: license alignment prevents wrong-person outreach; verification protects connectability and deliverability before you scale volume.

Best For

Recruiters sourcing PAs quickly.

Compliance & Safety

This method is for legitimate recruiting outreach only. Always respect candidate privacy, opt-out requests, and local data laws. Heartbeat does not provide medical advice or legal counsel.

If you want to start free search & preview data, you can create a Heartbeat.ai account and validate reachability before you scale outreach.

Framework: The “Don’t Treat PAs Like Physicians” Rule: message and targeting

Most wasted PA outreach comes from physician-style assumptions: long academic intros, “faculty” language, or specialty-first messaging that ignores schedule reality. The PA version that converts is simpler and faster:

• Targeting: prioritize setting and schedule fit (urgent care, ortho clinic, hospitalist service, surgical first assist) over prestige signals.
• Message: lead with shift pattern, autonomy/support model, and onboarding friction (credentialing, start date, call expectations).
• Qualifiers: ask early about supervision/collaboration model and what “support” looks like day-to-day (who’s available, how consults work, escalation path).
• Channel: PAs often respond faster to short SMS/call + a clean email follow-up than to long email-only sequences.

The trade-off is… you’ll do more upfront segmentation, but you’ll waste fewer touches on the wrong PA profile and protect your deliverability.

Step-by-step method

Step 1: Define the PA identity record you will trust

Before you collect any contact points, define what counts as a real person record. For PA recruiting, I recommend:

• Full name (including middle initial if present)
• State license (state + license number/status when available)
• NPI (when applicable) and taxonomy alignment
• Primary practice location (city/state) and setting
• Suppression flags: consent preference, opt-out, wrong person, retired, deceased (where known)

This prevents “same-name” collisions and the classic mistake: calling the wrong clinician because the list was built on name + city only.

Step 2: Store the right fields (so your list stays usable)

Here’s a compact schema you can copy into your CRM/ATS custom fields or a sourcing sheet. If you can’t answer “why is this record trustworthy?” from these columns, it’s not outreach-ready.

What you can expect to find (and what varies)

• Consistent: identity anchors like state license details are the most reliable starting point for matching the right person.
• Varies: direct phone and personal email availability depends on setting, employer policies, and how recently the record was refreshed.
• Non-negotiable: verification and suppression are what turn “data” into something you can safely use for outreach.

Common sources (and what each is good for)

• State licensing boards: best for identity anchoring and status checks. Start here when you’re unsure you have the right person.
• NPI records (when applicable): useful for cross-checking name, taxonomy, and location consistency.
• Employer/clinic rosters (when public): useful for validating setting and current practice footprint before you tailor outreach.

Step 3: Source candidates from signals that match PA reality

For PAs, the best sourcing inputs are the ones that map to licensure and practice footprint:

• State license lookups (identity anchor). If you need a starting point, use PA license lookup by state.
• NPI cross-check (when applicable) to confirm taxonomy and location consistency.
• Employer/clinic rosters (when public) to validate current setting and location.

Goal: build a clean identity layer first, then attach contact points.

Step 4: Attach contact points, then verify before outreach

Physician assistant contact data is only useful if it’s reachable. Treat phone and email as separate assets with separate QA.

• Phone: triage whether the number appears to be personal/direct vs switchboard, then verify via outcomes (connected, human answer, wrong person) before scaling.
• Email: confirm the address is deliverable and role-appropriate (personal/professional), and that your sending domain is protected.

For a practical QA workflow, see data quality verification for recruiting outreach.

Step 5: Run a two-lane outreach sequence (call/SMS + email)

For speed, run two lanes in parallel:

1. Lane A (call/SMS): short call attempt during likely break windows, then a concise SMS that asks permission to send details.
2. Lane B (email): a tight email with schedule + comp range (if approved) + location + “yes/no” CTA.

Keep the first touch under 60 seconds to read. Your goal is a reply or a scheduled call, not a full job pitch.

Use cases

• Agency recruiting: build a reachable segment fast, then work only the records that pass verification so you don’t waste dials and burn email reputation.
• In-house TA: maintain a clean, permission-aware PA pipeline with suppression and re-verification before re-engagement.
• MSP/VMS environments: keep auditability (source notes + last verified date + opt-out fields) so outreach stays consistent across teams.

Step 6: Suppress fast and keep your list clean

Every outreach program needs suppression discipline:

• Immediate suppression: opt-out requests, wrong person, “not a PA,” “do not contact,” and “no longer practicing.”
• Timed suppression: “not looking” for 90–180 days (your policy), then re-verify before re-contact.
• Channel-specific suppression: someone may consent to email but not SMS, or vice versa—store that preference.

Diagnostic Table:

Weighted Checklist:

Use this to score whether a PA record is outreach-ready. Total 100 points; I don’t start sequences under 70.

• Identity confidence (40)
  • State license present + status current (20)
  • NPI present/consistent when applicable (10)
  • Location matches practice footprint (10)
• Phone readiness (30)
  • Direct number likely (mobile or direct line) (15)
  • Recent activity/verification signal (10)
  • Not suppressed / no opt-out flag (5)
• Email readiness (20)
  • Deliverability check passed (10)
  • Address type fits recruiting outreach (personal/professional) (5)
  • Not suppressed / no opt-out flag (5)
• Targeting fit (10)
  • Setting/schedule aligns with your role (10)

Outreach Templates:

These are PA-specific and designed to get a fast “yes/no” without sounding like a physician pitch. Customize the bracketed fields. (Uniqueness hook: OUTREACH_TEMPLATES.)

Template 1 — SMS permission ask (first touch)

Text: “Hi [First Name] — I recruit PAs in [City/Region]. Quick question: are you open to hearing about a [setting] role with [schedule] and [call: none/rotating]? Reply YES and I’ll send details, or NO and I’ll opt you out.”

Template 2 — Email for speed (deliverability-friendly)

Subject: “PA role — [Schedule] in [City] (quick yes/no)”

Email: “Hi [First Name] — I’m working a PA opening in [City]. Snapshot: [setting], [schedule], support model is [supervision/collaboration details], call is [none/rotating], start [date/window]. If you’re open, what’s the best number/time to talk for 5 minutes? If not, reply ‘no’ and I’ll stop.”

Template 3 — Reposition when they ignore physician-style messaging

Text or Email: “Following up with the PA-specific details people usually screen first: schedule is [X], support model is [Y], call is [Z], onboarding timeline is [window if known]. Worth a quick chat?”

Call opener (10 seconds)

“Hi [First Name] — this is [Name]. I recruit PAs in [area]. Did I catch you between patients? I can do this in 20 seconds: [schedule] / [setting] / [support model] / [call]. Should I send details or is this a bad time?”

Common pitfalls

• Building lists from names only. Without a license anchor (and NPI when applicable), you’ll misattribute contact points and create compliance risk.
• Using physician language. “Faculty,” “attending,” and prestige framing often misses what PAs screen for first: schedule, support model, and onboarding friction.
• Ignoring suppression. If you don’t store opt-out and channel preferences, you’ll re-contact people who already said no and increase complaints.
• Over-trusting a single channel. Email-only sequences fail when deliverability is weak; call-only sequences fail when you hit clinic hours and gatekeepers.
• Not separating identity QA from contact QA. A correct PA record can still have bad phone/email. Treat them as different checks.

How to improve results

Measure this by… running a weekly QA loop on a small, tagged sample (for example, 50 records) before you scale volume. You’re looking for where the system breaks: identity, phone, email, or message-market fit.

Required metric definitions (use these consistently)

• Connect Rate = connected calls / total dials (e.g., per 100 dials).
• Answer Rate = human answers / connected calls (e.g., per 100 connected calls).
• Deliverability Rate = delivered emails / sent emails (e.g., per 100 sent emails).
• Bounce Rate = bounced emails / sent emails (e.g., per 100 sent emails).
• Reply Rate = replies / delivered emails (e.g., per 100 delivered emails).

Measurement instructions (operational)

1. Tag every attempt in your CRM/ATS: dial outcome (connected/voicemail/no service), email outcome (delivered/bounced), and response outcome (reply/opt-out/wrong person).
2. Run a weekly 2×2 audit:
   • High Connect Rate + low Answer Rate → you’re connecting to gatekeepers/voicemail systems; adjust phone type tagging and call windows.
   • Low Connect Rate → phone layer problem; re-verify numbers and suppress switchboards.
   • High Deliverability Rate + low Reply Rate → subject/CTA mismatch; tighten to yes/no and add SMS permission ask.
   • Low Deliverability Rate or high Bounce Rate → email hygiene problem; verification + suppression + sending practices.
3. Re-verify before re-touching any record older than your internal freshness threshold. Verification is outcome-based and iterative: if outcomes degrade, refresh and re-check before adding volume.
4. Segment by setting (urgent care vs surgical vs inpatient). PAs in different settings respond at different times and to different hooks.

Suppression list minimum fields (copy/paste)

Legal and ethical use

• Consent and opt-out: honor opt-out immediately and store it in a durable suppression list across tools.
• Purpose limitation: use contact data for legitimate recruiting outreach only, not unrelated marketing.
• Data minimization: collect what you need to recruit (identity + reachability + preference), not everything you can find.
• Be transparent: identify yourself, your purpose, and give a clear opt-out path in every channel.

Nothing here is legal advice—work with your counsel on jurisdiction-specific rules and your organization’s policies.

Evidence and trust notes

Two things matter for trust: (1) how you resolve PA identity (license/NPI alignment) and (2) how you verify reachability before outreach. Our methodology is documented here: Heartbeat trust methodology.

• State license: the state’s record is your primary identity anchor for whether someone is authorized to practice in that state.
• NCCPA: certification context (often referenced as “PA-C”), which is different from state licensure. See NCCPA.
• NPI: an administrative identifier used in many healthcare workflows; when applicable, it’s useful for cross-checking identity and location consistency.

FAQs

What should a PA record include before I outreach?

At minimum: full name, state license identifier/status, practice location, and at least one verified contact channel. Add NPI when applicable to cross-check identity and location.

How do I avoid contacting the wrong clinician with the same name?

Anchor on the state license first, then confirm location and (when applicable) NPI alignment before attaching phone/email. If any of those conflict, suppress until resolved.

What’s the safest first message to a PA?

A short permission-based note that states you recruit PAs, includes the schedule/setting/support model, and offers a clear opt-out. Keep it “yes/no,” not a long pitch.

How should I store consent and opt-out for PA outreach?

Store it as structured fields (not free-text): opt-out yes/no, channel preference (email/SMS/call), date captured, and source. Apply suppression across every tool you use so an opt-out in SMS also suppresses email and calls unless the candidate explicitly requests otherwise.

What’s the difference between state license, NPI, and NCCPA certification?

License is the state-level authority to practice. NPI (when applicable) is an administrative identifier that helps cross-check identity and location. NCCPA is certification context (commonly “PA-C”), which is not the same as licensure.

Why might a PA record not have an NPI?

Not every PA will have an NPI in the sources you’re using, and some records won’t match cleanly across systems. When NPI isn’t available or doesn’t align, use the state license as your identity anchor and verify location and setting through other signals before outreach.

Where can I validate PA licensure quickly?

Use the relevant state licensing board lookup. If you need a starting workflow, use this PA license lookup guide and document what you checked in your record.

Next steps

• Start free search & preview data in Heartbeat.ai and build a small, verified PA segment before scaling.
• For broader context across clinician types, use the provider contact data hub to navigate related workflows.
• Implement the field schema and checklist scoring above so recruiters only work outreach-ready records.
• Use the verification workflow in data quality verification to protect connectability and deliverability as you grow volume.

Reminder: This page focuses on reachability and list building for physician assistant recruiting outreach. It does not promise outcomes and it does not provide legal advice.

About the Author

Ben Argeband is the Founder and CEO of Swordfish.ai and Heartbeat.ai. With deep expertise in data and SaaS, he has built two successful platforms trusted by over 50,000 sales and recruitment professionals. Ben’s mission is to help teams find direct contact information for hard-to-reach professionals and decision-makers, providing the shortest route to their next win. Connect with Ben on LinkedIn.