# Care category taxonomy

URL: https://docs.healthcare.dev/reference/care-categories/care-category-taxonomy

```http
GET https://api.healthcare.dev/v1/care-categories
```

Every plain-English care category ("Knee replacement", "Diabetes supplies"), top-level groups first, each with its parent, path and children. ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, HCPCS Level II and NDC records carry their categories on lookups (`care_categories`). Filter with `q` (words in the name). On every plan.

Requires an API key: `Authorization: Bearer hdev_live_...`. See [Authentication](/authentication).

## Query parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Description | Example |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `q` | string | no | Only categories whose name contains every word | `diabetes` |
| `view` | "compact" \| "standard" \| "full" | no | How much of each record to return (default `full`). `compact`: `slug`, `name`, `parent` (fewest tokens, for agents). `standard`: every field except `description`. `full`: every field. | `compact` |
| `fields` | string | no | Comma-separated fields to return instead of a view. Valid fields: `slug`, `name`, `description`, `parent`, `path`, `children`. | `slug,name,parent` |

## Examples

**curl**

```sh
curl "https://api.healthcare.dev/v1/care-categories?q=diabetes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HDEV_API_KEY"
```

**TypeScript**

```ts
const res = await fetch("https://api.healthcare.dev/v1/care-categories?q=diabetes", {
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.HDEV_API_KEY}` },
});
const { data, meta } = await res.json();
```

**Python**

```python
import os
import requests

res = requests.get("https://api.healthcare.dev/v1/care-categories?q=diabetes", headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['HDEV_API_KEY']}"})
body = res.json()
```

## Response

Categories in taxonomy order

```json
{
  "data": [
    {
      "slug": "string",
      "name": "string",
      "description": "string",
      "parent": "string",
      "path": [
        "string"
      ],
      "children": [
        "string"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "source": "cms-icd10",
    "data_version": "2026.1",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-24T12:00:00Z",
    "license": "Public domain (CMS). Reference data, not medical advice."
  },
  "links": {
    "self": "/v1/care-categories?q=diabetes",
    "next": "/v1/care-categories?q=diabetes&cursor=eyJrIjoiRTExLjkifQ"
  }
}
```

### Fields

| Field | Type | Always present | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `slug` | string | yes | Stable handle, e.g. `knee-replacement` |
| `name` | string | yes | Plain-English name, e.g. `Knee replacement` |
| `description` | string \| null | yes | What the group covers (top-level groups only) |
| `parent` | string \| null | yes | Parent's slug, or null for a top-level group |
| `path` | string[] | yes | Slugs from the top-level group down to this category, e.g. `["bones-joints-and-muscles", "joint-replacement", "knee-replacement"]` |
| `children` | string[] | yes | Slugs of the categories directly below this one |

## Errors

Errors are `application/problem+json` ([RFC 9457](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9457)). Branch on `type`, not on `title`. See [Errors](/errors).

| Status | `type` | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 400 | `invalid-request` | A parameter or the body failed validation; `errors` lists each field. |
| 401 | `unauthorized` | Missing, malformed or revoked API key. |
| 404 | `not-found` | No record with that id (retired records are still returned). |
| 429 | `rate-limited / quota-exceeded` | Too many requests per second (retry after `Retry-After`), or the monthly quota is used up. |
| 503 | `dataset-unavailable / unavailable` | The dataset has no published version yet, or the service is degraded. |