> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.joincandidhealth.com/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.joincandidhealth.com/_mcp/server.

# Search Providers

GET https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers

Searches for referring providers that match the query parameters.  The search is case-insensitive, supports fuzzy matching, and matches against provider name and NPI. The search criteria must be an alphanumeric string, and the search is limited to the first 20 results.

Reference: https://docs.joincandidhealth.com/api-reference/pre-encounter/patients/v-1/search-providers

## Authentication

- OAuth2 — send the obtained token as `Authorization: Bearer <token>`

## Servers

- `https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com` (Production, default)
- `https://pre-api-staging.joincandidhealth.com` (Staging)
- `https://sandbox-pre-api.joincandidhealth.com` (CandidSandbox)
- `https://staging-pre-api.joincandidhealth.com` (CandidStaging)
- `http://localhost:4000` (Local)

## Request

### Query parameters

- `search_criteria` (string, required)

## Response

### 200

- `list of ExternalProvider`

## Types

### ExternalProvider

- `name` (HumanName, required)
- `telecoms` (list of ContactPoint, required)
- `type` (enum, optional) — Defaults to ATTENDING.
  - Allowed values: `PRIMARY`, `REFERRING`, `ATTENDING`
- `npi` (string, optional)
- `addresses` (list of Address, optional)
- `period` (Period, optional)
- `canonical_id` (string, optional) — The unique identifier for a provider configured in the Candid system
- `fax` (string, optional)
- `other_fax_numbers` (list of string, optional)
- `emails` (list of string, optional)
- `service_facilities` (list of PatientServiceFacility, optional) — Associated service facilities for this provider.

### HumanName

- `family` (string, required)
- `given` (list of string, required)
- `use` (enum, required)
  - Allowed values: `USUAL`, `OFFICIAL`, `TEMP`, `NICKNAME`, `ANONYMOUS`, `OLD`, `MAIDEN`
- `period` (Period, optional)
- `suffix` (string, optional)

### ContactPoint

- `value` (string, required)
- `use` (enum, required)
  - Allowed values: `HOME`, `WORK`, `TEMP`, `OLD`, `MOBILE`
- `period` (Period, optional)

### Address

- `use` (enum, required)
  - Allowed values: `HOME`, `WORK`, `TEMP`, `OLD`, `BILLING`
- `line` (list of string, required)
- `city` (string, required)
- `state` (string, required)
- `postal_code` (string, required)
- `country` (string, required)
- `administrative_area` (string, optional) — The top-level administrative subdivision of the country for addresses outside the US — for example a Canadian province, a UK county, or a Japanese prefecture. Only permitted on international addresses: `country` must be present and non-US, and `state` must be "FC" (the X12 foreign-country sentinel). For US addresses use `state` instead.
- `county` (string, optional)
- `period` (Period, optional)

### Period

- `start` (date, optional)
- `end` (date, optional)

### PatientServiceFacility

Represents a canonical service facility attached to a patient or patient dependent object

- `service_facility_id` (string, required) — The unique identifier for a service facility configured in the Candid system

## Examples

**Response**

```json
[
  {
    "name": {
      "family": "family",
      "given": [
        "given",
        "given"
      ],
      "use": "USUAL",
      "period": {
        "start": "2023-01-15",
        "end": "2023-01-15"
      },
      "suffix": "suffix"
    },
    "telecoms": [
      {
        "value": "value",
        "use": "HOME",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "value",
        "use": "HOME",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      }
    ],
    "type": "PRIMARY",
    "npi": "npi",
    "addresses": [
      {
        "use": "HOME",
        "line": [
          "line",
          "line"
        ],
        "city": "city",
        "state": "state",
        "postal_code": "postal_code",
        "country": "country",
        "administrative_area": "administrative_area",
        "county": "county",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      },
      {
        "use": "HOME",
        "line": [
          "line",
          "line"
        ],
        "city": "city",
        "state": "state",
        "postal_code": "postal_code",
        "country": "country",
        "administrative_area": "administrative_area",
        "county": "county",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      }
    ],
    "period": {
      "start": "2023-01-15",
      "end": "2023-01-15"
    },
    "canonical_id": "canonical_id",
    "fax": "fax",
    "other_fax_numbers": [
      "other_fax_numbers",
      "other_fax_numbers"
    ],
    "emails": [
      "emails",
      "emails"
    ],
    "service_facilities": [
      {
        "service_facility_id": "service_facility_id"
      },
      {
        "service_facility_id": "service_facility_id"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": {
      "family": "family",
      "given": [
        "given",
        "given"
      ],
      "use": "USUAL",
      "period": {
        "start": "2023-01-15",
        "end": "2023-01-15"
      },
      "suffix": "suffix"
    },
    "telecoms": [
      {
        "value": "value",
        "use": "HOME",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "value",
        "use": "HOME",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      }
    ],
    "type": "PRIMARY",
    "npi": "npi",
    "addresses": [
      {
        "use": "HOME",
        "line": [
          "line",
          "line"
        ],
        "city": "city",
        "state": "state",
        "postal_code": "postal_code",
        "country": "country",
        "administrative_area": "administrative_area",
        "county": "county",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      },
      {
        "use": "HOME",
        "line": [
          "line",
          "line"
        ],
        "city": "city",
        "state": "state",
        "postal_code": "postal_code",
        "country": "country",
        "administrative_area": "administrative_area",
        "county": "county",
        "period": {
          "start": "2023-01-15",
          "end": "2023-01-15"
        }
      }
    ],
    "period": {
      "start": "2023-01-15",
      "end": "2023-01-15"
    },
    "canonical_id": "canonical_id",
    "fax": "fax",
    "other_fax_numbers": [
      "other_fax_numbers",
      "other_fax_numbers"
    ],
    "emails": [
      "emails",
      "emails"
    ],
    "service_facilities": [
      {
        "service_facility_id": "service_facility_id"
      },
      {
        "service_facility_id": "service_facility_id"
      }
    ]
  }
]
```

**SDK Code**

```python
import requests

url = "https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers"

querystring = {"search_criteria":"search_criteria"}

headers = {"Authorization": "<token>."}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=querystring)

print(response.json())
```

```javascript
const url = 'https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers?search_criteria=search_criteria';
const options = {method: 'GET', headers: {Authorization: '<token>.'}};

try {
  const response = await fetch(url, options);
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}
```

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers?search_criteria=search_criteria"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "<token>.")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
```

```ruby
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers?search_criteria=search_criteria")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = '<token>.'

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
```

```java
import com.mashape.unirest.http.HttpResponse;
import com.mashape.unirest.http.Unirest;

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers?search_criteria=search_criteria")
  .header("Authorization", "<token>.")
  .asString();
```

```php
<?php
require_once('vendor/autoload.php');

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();

$response = $client->request('GET', 'https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers?search_criteria=search_criteria', [
  'headers' => [
    'Authorization' => '<token>.',
  ],
]);

echo $response->getBody();
```

```csharp
using RestSharp;

var client = new RestClient("https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers?search_criteria=search_criteria");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
request.AddHeader("Authorization", "<token>.");
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
```

```swift
import Foundation

let headers = ["Authorization": "<token>."]

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://pre-api.joincandidhealth.com/patients/v1/search_providers?search_criteria=search_criteria")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "GET"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error as Any)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
```