National Procedures Institute

What National Procedures Institute does

National Procedures Institute (NPI) is a Texas-based continuing medical education (CME) provider founded in 1989 by Dr. John L. Pfenninger, specializing in procedural-skills training for primary care physicians, family practitioners, and other healthcare professionals who want to incorporate office-based procedures into their practices. NPI's catalog comprises 15 distinct CME courses covering procedural disciplines such as dermatologic surgery, aesthetics, and minor office-based surgical techniques, priced individually from $1,095 to $2,395 per course.

The business operates as a Texas LLC with a small staff (1-10 employees) and delivers training in person across three Texas cities (Austin, Round Rock, Houston) between July and December each year. Since 2008, NPI has been owned by a joint venture of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians (TAFP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM), which provides both ACCME accreditation pathway and direct distribution into the membership rosters of the largest U.S. family medicine professional organizations. Course registration is handled through the Cvent event-management platform.

NPI's revenue model is per-seat tuition paid by individual physician registrants, with no disclosed institutional, employer, or government contracts and no publicly reported revenue figures. The operating footprint is intentionally narrow, concentrated within Texas with no observed national or international expansion, and there is no evidence of AI/ML capability, proprietary technology platform beyond Cvent, venture funding, or patent activity in the input data. The business functions as a niche, professionally accredited CME operator whose strategic significance is anchored to its curriculum library and ownership-aligned distribution rather than to technology or scale.

Name

National Procedures Institute

Legal name

National Procedures Institute (NPI), LLC

Website

https://npinstitute.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

National Procedures Institute is a Texas-based CME provider, founded in 1989, delivering hands-on procedural-skills training courses to primary care physicians and family practitioners across three Texas cities, and owned by a joint venture of AAFP, STFM, and TAFP.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Continuing Medical Education (CME) Training

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Clinical Professions (CME/CE for Nurses, Allied Health, Pharmacy) (EDAAALAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE) (EDAGANAJ)

Keywords

• Continuing medical education
• Hands-on procedural training
• CME courses
• Medical procedure workshops
• Primary care skills training

Headquarters

HQ city

Austin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Course Registration Fees: NPI generates revenue through one-time course registration fees. Healthcare professionals pay to attend 1-3 day hands-on CME courses. Fees vary by course complexity, ranging from $1,095 for single-day courses to $2,395 for three-day intensive courses like EGD/Colonoscopy. The company also offers discounts including early bird registration ($100 off), multi-course discounts ($200 off for two courses), loyalty discounts (50% off sixth course after attending five within three years), and professional discounts (10% off for residents, students, NPs, and PAs).
2. Hotel and Event Services: NPI contracts room blocks at host hotels for conference attendees at discounted rates, though the revenue from this stream appears to be incidental to the primary course registration revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

National Procedures Institute (NPI) delivers hands-on continuing medical education (CME) courses that teach outpatient diagnostic and therapeutic procedural skills to primary care clinicians. Course offerings span 15 specialties—including suturing, dermatology, aesthetics, allergy testing, endoscopy/colonoscopy, EKG interpretation, exercise stress testing, hospitalist procedures, imaging, joint injections, musculoskeletal ultrasound, POCUS, and hormone replacement therapy—and combine didactic lectures, instructional videos, live demonstrations, and small-group hands-on practice using anatomical models and manikins. Each course is accredited by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians through ACCME to award AMA PRA Category 1 Credits and AAFP Prescribed Credits.

Product overview

National Procedures Institute offers a comprehensive portfolio of 15 hands-on CME courses designed for physicians, PAs, NPs, APRNs, residents, students, and clinical staff. The courses are taught in supportive small-group environments by experienced instructors and provide real-world procedural skills immediately applicable in clinical settings. Course offerings span aesthetic procedures, allergy testing, hormone replacement therapy optimization, women's health procedures, dermatologic procedures, gastroenterology (EGD/colonoscopy), cardiology (EKG interpretation, exercise stress testing), hospitalist procedures, medical imaging, musculoskeletal/ultrasound procedures, and surgical suturing skills. All courses offer AMA PRA Category 1 Credits and AAFP Prescribed Credits. The company was founded in 1989 and is currently owned by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Suturing Skills and Advanced Techniques Two-day hands-on CME course teaching wound repair techniques from basic suturing to advanced methods (dog ear repair, z-plasty, v-y plasty, advancement flaps) for primary care clinicians. Priced at $1,695 and awards 15 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Scanning and Injection Guidance: The Next Step Two-day advanced hands-on CME course teaching ultrasound-guided musculoskeletal injections for shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, hip, knee, ankle, and foot. Priced at $1,895 and awards 16.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Mastering Protocols for Optimization of HRT - Part 1 Two-day intensive mini-residency CME course teaching hormone replacement therapy protocols (thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, growth hormone, DHEA, pregnenolone) for men and women. Priced at $1,495 and awards 16 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Imaging for Primary Care Providers One-day CME course improving ability to read X-rays of chest, extremities, neck, spine, abdomen, and sinuses, plus basic CT and MRI review. Priced at $1,095 and awards 8 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Exercise Stress Testing One-and-a-half-day case-based CME course providing hands-on and interpretive training to perform and interpret exercise stress testing for coronary artery disease. Priced at $1,195 and awards 12 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Aesthetic Procedures Two-day hands-on CME course teaching non-surgical cosmetic procedures (botulinum toxin, soft tissue fillers, microneedling, submental fat injections, lasers, microdermabrasion, chemical peels) for primary care clinicians. Awards 14.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Allergy Testing and Immunotherapy for Primary Care Physicians One-day CME course training primary care physicians to administer and interpret allergy tests using multiple applicators and to initiate immunotherapy programs. Awards 8 AAFP Prescribed credits.
• Contraceptive and Women's Health Procedures Two-day CME course covering contraception methods (implant, IUD), no-scalpel vasectomy, endometrial biopsy, fine needle aspiration, and office treatment of hemorrhoids. Awards 15 AAFP Prescribed credits.
• Dermatologic Procedures Two-day CME course teaching common skin procedures (skin anesthesia, nerve blocks, skin biopsies, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, surgical excisions, dermoscopy). Awards 15.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Bioidentical HRT Optimization – Part II Clinical Conversations Two-day advanced case-based CME course on bioidentical hormone replacement therapy management, focusing on clinical conversations and patient-based learning for BHRT treatment protocols. Part 2 of the HRT series.
• Joint Exam and Injections with an Introduction to Ultrasound Guidance: The First Step Two-day intensive CME course on examination and injection techniques for musculoskeletal problems (15 palpation injections, 80 physical exam special tests, ultrasound-guided injections). Awards 14.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Two-day CME course covering abdominal, OB/GYN, cardiac, transvaginal, high-frequency, and musculoskeletal ultrasound for office, hospitalist, and emergency point-of-care settings. Awards 15 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• Hospitalist Procedures Two-day CME course covering hospitalist procedures (central line placement, lumbar puncture, thoracentesis, airway management, intubations, ventilator management) via lecture, video, and hands-on practice. Awards 16 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
• EKG Interpretation Two-day CME course enhancing clinicians' EKG/ECG interpretation skills via a case-based interactive format covering intervals, waveforms, arrhythmias, and clinical abnormalities. Awards 16 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.

Quantifiable outcome

• Small class sizes ensure hands-on experience and one-on-one time with faculty
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Texas Academy of Family PhysicianscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008NPI is currently owned by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. TAFP provides joint accreditation for NPI CME courses through its ACCME accreditation, enabling the offering of AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. This ownership and accreditation partnership is central to NPI's legitimacy and credit recognition.
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008AAFP holds an ownership stake in NPI through a joint venture (along with STFM and TAFP) established in 2008. AAFP reviews and approves courses for AAFP Prescribed credit, and NPI courses are marketed to AAFP members. This partnership provides credibility and credit recognition for NPI courses.
• Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008STFM holds an ownership stake in NPI through a joint venture (along with AAFP and TAFP) established in 2008. STFM is a professional medical society focused on family medicine education, and this partnership supports NPI's educational mission and curriculum development.
• Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACCME is the governing body that accredits the Texas Academy of Family Physicians to provide AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Through TAFP's ACCME accreditation, NPI courses can offer physicians Category 1 credits recognized throughout the US medical system.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Pri-Med: Large-scale primary care CME provider offering live conferences and online CME to PCPs, NPs, and PAs. Directly comparable to NPI in target learner and CME focus, but at much greater scale and with both live and digital delivery.
• CME Outfitters: Accredited CME provider delivering live meetings, webcasts, and on-demand content for physicians and allied health professionals. Directly comparable in CME accreditation, multi-format delivery, and clinician learner base, though broader in therapeutic area.
• Hippo Education: CME provider focused on primary care and emergency medicine clinicians via podcast, video, and live courses. Directly comparable learner base (PCPs, NPs, PAs) and curriculum-driven model, differentiated mainly by audio-first delivery.
• EB Medicine: Subscription-based CME and clinical reference provider for emergency and primary care clinicians. Comparable in clinician-targeted CME, but oriented to emergency medicine and digital delivery rather than in-person procedural training.
• MedStudy: Provider of board review and CME content for primary care physicians, PAs, and NPs. Comparable in clinician-learner focus and continuing education format, though heavier on board prep than procedural training.

Broad incumbents

• American Medical Association (AMA) Continuing Medical Education: The largest U.S. medical association, offering extensive CME programming and administering the AMA PRA credit system. Broad incumbent providing overlapping CME capabilities as part of a much wider portfolio serving all physician specialties.
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) CME: National family medicine professional society providing AAFP Prescribed Credit CME to its 130,000+ members. Broad incumbent and a current co-owner of NPI through the 2008 joint venture, making it both a partner and a much larger peer in primary care CME.
• Haymarket Medical Education: Large accredited CME provider offering live and online activities across multiple therapeutic areas. Broad incumbent with overlapping clinician CME capability but much larger portfolio and pharma-funded activity mix.

Emerging players

• Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM): Academic family medicine society offering conferences, courses, and faculty development for medical educators. Partial overlap with NPI's curriculum and ownership history (STFM is a 2008 joint-venture co-owner), but focused on educator training rather than practicing-clinician procedural CME.
• BoardVitals: Digital CME and board review platform for physicians, NPs, and PAs. Emerging player with partial overlap in clinician-learner CME, differentiated by Q-bank and online-first delivery rather than in-person procedural training.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/npicme

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Procedures Institute