Provider contact data API

By Ben Argeband, Founder & CEO of Heartbeat.ai — Ops-friendly: recipes, identifiers, failure handling.

Who this is for

This is for recruiting ops leaders who want provider contact data flowing into an ATS/CRM automatically—without CSV exports, duplicate records, or recruiters guessing which phone/email is current.

• Recruiting ops leaders responsible for ATS/CRM data quality and workflow automation
• TA systems teams who need auditability (provenance, suppression, refresh logs)
• Agency owners who care about speed-to-submittal and deliverability hygiene

Quick Answer

Core Answer

Use a provider contact data API with NPI/license identifiers, deterministic dedupe, and outcome-based refresh triggers so your ATS/CRM stays contactable without manual exports.

Key Insight

Heartbeat observed typicals: minimum payload identifiers (ATS person_id + NPI or license key) plus dedupe rules and refresh triggers based on outcomes prevent spreadsheet-driven “refresh projects.”

Best For

Recruiting ops leaders who want provider contact data flowing into ATS/CRM automatically.

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.

Framework: The “No Manual Work” API Pattern: Identify → Enrich → Log → Refresh

Most enrichment efforts fail because they focus on “getting data” instead of building a loop that stays correct over time. The ops pattern that holds up is simple: identify the provider with stable keys, enrich contact channels, log outcomes, and refresh only when outcomes say the channel is stale.

What “good” looks like in an ATS/CRM

• Identifier-first matching: NPI first; fallback to license number + state (license matching).
• Deterministic dedupe: hard rules for merges; soft matches go to review.
• Provenance: every enriched field stores source + timestamp + identifier used.
• Suppression: opt-out and bounce suppression are enforced at send/dial time, not just stored as notes.
• Refresh cadence via triggers: refresh runs on outcomes (bounce/no-answer) and workflow events (stage change), not quarterly exports.

API evaluation criteria (ops)

• Identifier support: accepts NPI and license number + state as first-class match keys.
• Provenance fields: returns source and timestamps you can store per channel.
• Suppression propagation: supports storing and honoring opt-out/suppression so you can enforce it across tools.
• Outcome loop compatibility: you can log delivered/bounced/replied and connected/answered/no-answer back to the provider record.
• Idempotency/cooldowns: you can prevent duplicate refresh jobs and refresh storms operationally.
• Dedupe audit trail: you can trace why two records were merged or held for review.

1) Identify (stable keys first)

Names and facilities drift. Stable identifiers are what let you refresh the same provider later without re-matching from scratch.

• NPI when available
• License number + state when NPI is missing or ambiguous
• ATS/CRM person_id as your internal system-of-record key

Identifier definition: a stable, unique key you can store and re-use to request enrichment again later (e.g., NPI, or license number + issuing state). Avoid name-only matching as your primary key.

2) Enrich (contactability + suppression)

Enrichment should return what ops needs to run outreach safely and consistently:

• Contact channels (email, phone) with metadata you can store
• Quality signals you can use for routing (for example: channel recency, suppression status, and outcome history—never as a guarantee)
• Consent and opt-out flags where applicable, plus suppression guidance

The trade-off is… automation only helps if you’re strict about what gets written back to the ATS/CRM (and what gets suppressed) so you don’t pollute your source of truth.

3) Log (outcomes become refresh signals)

Don’t just store “the data.” Store what happened when you used it. That’s how you stop refreshing everything on a calendar and start refreshing based on reality.

• Email outcomes: delivered, bounced, replied
• Call outcomes: connected, human answer, voicemail/no-answer
• Suppression outcomes: opt-out, do-not-contact, compliance holds

4) Refresh (triggered, not random)

Refresh trigger definition: a rule that initiates re-enrichment when an outcome indicates the contact channel is stale or risky (e.g., bounce, repeated no-answer, or record merge/dedupe event). This is your refresh cadence—but driven by signals, not a fixed schedule.

Step-by-step method

This is the ops-friendly implementation path for a provider contact data API that supports ATS enrichment, list refresh, and dedupe—without heavy code.

Step 1: Decide your system of record and write-back rules

Pick one place that “owns” the provider record (usually ATS/CRM). Then define what the API is allowed to write back.

• Write-back allowed: normalized phone/email fields, source timestamp, suppression flags
• Write-back not allowed: free-text notes that recruiters overwrite, or ambiguous alternates that create duplicates

Step 2: Standardize your minimum payload identifiers

Make your enrichment request payload boring and consistent. For each provider record, send:

• ATS/CRM person_id (your internal key)
• NPI (preferred)
• If no NPI: license number + state (for license matching)
• Optional routing fields (not matching keys): specialty, last known facility, last outreach date

Step 3: Implement dedupe logic before you enrich at scale

Dedupe is where ATS enrichment projects either save time or create a mess. Use deterministic rules:

• Hard match: same NPI → same person
• Secondary match: same license number + state → likely same person
• Soft match: name + city/facility → review queue only (no auto-merge)

When two ATS records map to one identifier, don’t “pick one” silently. Create a merge task or a master/child relationship so outreach history and suppression stay intact.

Step 4: Use cases (ops)

• ATS enrichment: enrich when a lead is created or moved to an outreach stage so recruiters always start with current channels.
• List refresh: refresh only the subset you’re actively working (campaign enrollment, stage change, or recent activity).
• Dedupe hygiene: use identifier matches to prevent duplicate provider records and to consolidate suppression/outreach history.

Step 5: Write-back schema (plain English, no code)

To keep your ATS/CRM clean, store enriched data as structured fields with provenance. A practical write-back set looks like:

• Primary email: value + last_verified_at + source
• Email alternates: value + last_seen_at + source + status (active/suppressed)
• Primary phone: value + type (mobile/other if available) + last_verified_at + source
• Phone alternates: value + last_seen_at + source + status (active/suppressed)
• Suppression: opt-out scope (email/phone/all) + timestamp + reason
• Identifier used: NPI or license key used for the enrichment request
• Enrichment log pointer: job_id or event_id so ops can audit changes

Step 6: Enrich only the records that need it

Don’t enrich your whole database because you can. Enrich based on workflow events:

• New lead created
• Stage change to “Outreach”
• Recruiter requests contact channels
• Campaign enrollment

Step 7: Log outcomes in a way you can query later

Outcome logging is what turns enrichment into a system. At minimum, store:

• Timestamp
• Channel (email/phone)
• Outcome (delivered/bounced/replied; connected/answered/no-answer)
• Sequence/campaign identifier
• Provider identifier used (NPI or license key)

Step 8: Add refresh triggers (and prevent refresh storms)

Refresh triggers keep your ATS fresh without constant exports. Add guardrails so you don’t create loops (for example, repeated bounces triggering repeated refreshes).

• Cooldown window: don’t refresh the same provider/channel again until your chosen cooldown passes.
• Idempotency key: one refresh job per provider_id + channel + day (or per workflow event) to prevent duplicates.
• Stop conditions: if a provider is opted-out, do not refresh for outreach; keep suppression enforced even if new channels appear.

Pilot rollout plan (ops)

1. Pilot cohort: pick one specialty or one region and one workflow event (for example, stage moved to Outreach).
2. Run acceptance tests: validate suppression, provenance, dedupe behavior, and trigger cooldowns before expanding.
3. Add triggers: introduce bounce-trigger refresh first, then no-answer-trigger refresh once logging is stable.
4. Scale with monitoring: expand to more stages/campaigns only after weekly metrics stabilize and ops can explain changes.

Acceptance tests before rollout (ops checklist)

• A bounced email is suppressed immediately and cannot be re-sent by any sequence.
• An opt-out event stops future outreach across email and phone where applicable.
• Two ATS records with the same NPI do not create two parallel outreach histories.
• A refresh trigger cannot enqueue multiple jobs for the same provider/channel within your cooldown window.
• Every enriched field in the ATS/CRM shows source + timestamp + identifier used.

Diagnostic Table:

Weighted Checklist:

Use this to evaluate whether your provider contact data API implementation will reduce recruiter effort and protect deliverability.

• (25%) Identifier-first design: NPI and license matching supported; name-only matching is not the default.
• (20%) Dedupe controls: deterministic rules, review queue for soft matches, merge audit trail.
• (20%) Refresh cadence via triggers: bounce/no-answer/nightly rules implemented (not just monthly refresh).
• (15%) Suppression & consent: opt-out captured once and enforced everywhere; consent fields stored where applicable.
• (10%) Provenance: every enriched field has source + timestamp + identifier payload stored.
• (10%) Workflow fit: enrichment runs on ATS events (new lead, stage change), not manual exports.

Outreach Templates:

These templates are designed to work with enrichment + suppression. Customize to your org and always honor opt-out requests.

Email template (first touch)

Subject: Quick question about your next role

Body: Hi Dr. {{LastName}} — I’m reaching out about a role that matches your background. If you’re open to a brief call, what’s the best number and time window? If you’d rather not receive messages like this, reply “opt out” and I’ll stop.

SMS template (only where you have documented consent or another approved lawful basis, and it’s permitted)

Text: Hi Dr. {{LastName}}, this is {{RecruiterName}}. Are you open to hearing about a role aligned with {{Specialty}}? Reply STOP to opt out.

Voicemail template

Voicemail: Hi Dr. {{LastName}}, this is {{RecruiterName}}. I’m calling about an opportunity that may fit your schedule and preferences. If you’re open, call me back at {{CallbackNumber}}. If not interested, let me know and I’ll close the loop.

Common pitfalls

1) Treating enrichment like a one-time import

Static exports decay and create silent failure (bounces/no-answers) unless you have outcome-based refresh triggers.

2) Matching on names (and creating duplicates)

Names collide, facilities change, and middle initials disappear. Use NPI first, then license matching. Keep soft matches in a review queue.

3) No suppression loop (deliverability and compliance risk)

If opt-outs and bounces don’t immediately suppress the channel, you’ll keep re-contacting the same bad address/number and damage sender reputation and candidate trust.

4) Writing back too much data

Ops teams often overwrite ATS fields with alternates that recruiters can’t interpret. Store alternates as structured fields with timestamps and keep a single “primary” channel per workflow.

5) Refresh storms

If every bounce or no-answer triggers an immediate refresh with no cooldown, you’ll create repeated jobs, conflicting write-backs, and noisy audit logs. Add cooldown windows and idempotency keys.

6) Identifier collisions (license without state)

License numbers can collide across states. If your ATS stores “license: 12345” without the issuing state, you’ll mis-match providers and contaminate outreach history. Store license number + state as one key and never match on license number alone.

7) Not defining metrics consistently

If your team can’t agree on what “connect rate” means, you can’t tell whether refresh triggers are working.

How to improve results

Improvement comes from tightening the loop between outcomes and refresh. Start by defining metrics the same way across ops, recruiting, and leadership.

Define the metrics (use consistent denominators)

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

Note: Answer Rate is intentionally per 100 connected calls (not per 100 dials) so you can separate dialer connectivity from human pickup.

Suppression definition: a rule that prevents future outreach on a channel (or all channels) after an opt-out, bounce, or compliance hold.

Provenance definition: the stored source and timestamp for each contact channel so ops can audit where it came from and how recent it is.

Measurement instructions (what ops should instrument)

Measure this by… setting up a weekly ops dashboard that breaks outcomes by (1) identifier type used (NPI vs license), (2) channel (email vs phone), and (3) record age since last enrichment.

• Track bounce rate and deliverability rate by campaign and by “days since last refresh.”
• Track connect rate and answer rate by phone_id and by “attempt count since last refresh.”
• Track suppression events (opt-out, bounce) and confirm they prevent future sends/dials.
• Track dedupe events: merges created, merges approved, and outreach history preserved.

Uniqueness hook: RECIPE_PACK (3 refresh recipes you can implement this week)

These are three concrete refresh recipes that keep ATS data current without turning ops into a spreadsheet factory.

Recipe 1: Nightly refresh (only for records touched today)

1. At end of day, pull providers with any of: new lead created, stage moved to Outreach, or added to a campaign.
2. Send minimum payload identifiers (ATS person_id + NPI or license key) to enrichment.
3. Write back only if the returned channel is newer than what you have (timestamp check).
4. Log enrichment job id + fields updated.

Recipe 2: Bounce-trigger refresh (email hygiene loop)

1. When an email bounce occurs, immediately suppress that email address on the provider record.
2. Queue a refresh job for that provider_id using NPI/license matching.
3. If a new email is returned, store it as the new primary with source + timestamp; keep the bounced address suppressed.
4. Re-enroll only after suppression is confirmed in the sending system.

Recipe 3: No-answer-trigger refresh (phone channel loop)

1. After your team’s defined threshold of no-answer outcomes, queue a refresh job for that provider_id.
2. Store the new phone as an alternate until it proves better based on connect/answer outcomes.
3. Route the provider to a different time window or channel if repeated no-answer persists.
4. For Heartbeat.ai workflows, you can prioritize outreach using ranked mobile numbers by answer probability as a routing signal alongside your own outcomes.

Legal and ethical use

Use provider contact data for legitimate recruiting outreach only. Build compliance into the workflow:

• Consent: store consent signals where applicable and don’t infer consent from silence.
• Opt-out: treat opt-out as a first-class event; suppress immediately and globally.
• Data minimization: store only what you need to recruit and to prove compliance.
• Auditability: keep provenance (source + timestamp + identifier payload) for enriched fields.

Heartbeat.ai does not provide legal counsel. If you operate across jurisdictions, get your compliance team to sign off on your suppression and retention rules.

Evidence and trust notes

Sources referenced for identifier baselines and automation expectations:

• NPPES (CMS) — NPI baseline identity
• Zapier Learn — automation baseline concepts

For how Heartbeat.ai evaluates data quality and handles trust signals, see our trust methodology for recruiting data.

FAQs

What should I send to a provider contact data API for the best match?

Send stable identifiers: NPI first. If NPI isn’t available, send license number + state for license matching. Avoid name-only matching as your primary approach.

How do I keep my ATS/CRM from filling up with duplicates?

Use deterministic dedupe rules (same NPI = same person). Route soft matches (name/facility) to a review queue, and keep an audit trail for merges.

How often should I refresh provider contact data?

Use refresh triggers instead of a blanket schedule: bounce-trigger refresh for email, no-answer-trigger refresh for phone, and a nightly refresh for records touched that day.

What outcomes should ops log to make refresh automatic?

Log delivered/bounced/replied for email and connected/answered/no-answer for calls, tied to the provider identifier used (NPI or license key) and the channel id.

Where do I start if I want to test this without a big integration project?

Start with one workflow event (for example, “stage moved to Outreach”), enrich only those records, and enforce suppression. Then expand to bounce/no-answer triggers and dedupe review.

Next steps

• See the product entry point for the Heartbeat.ai API and map it to your ATS/CRM events.
• If your matching is messy today, read NPI and license matching for provider records to tighten identifiers before scaling.
• To operationalize refresh triggers, use provider data refresh cadence as your policy baseline.
• When you’re ready to run a controlled pilot, start free search & preview data and validate write-back + suppression rules with a small cohort.

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.