Shepard Eye Center, 910 E Stowell Rd, Santa Maria: NPI Registry Record
What the registry record says
- NPI number
- 1578521472
- Legal business name
- Elite Eyecare Medical Group A Medical Corporation
- Registered trading name
- Shepard Eye Center
- Primary registered specialty
- Ophthalmology (207W00000X)
- Other registered specialties
- Optometrist
- Practice location
- 910 E Stowell Rd
Santa Maria, CA 93454 - Phone on the record
- (805) 925-2637
- NPI issued
- May 2, 2006
- Record last updated by the practice
- January 14, 2022
- Registry status
- NPI registry record, active as reported by CMS October 2026
- Metro area
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
- County
- Santa Barbara County
- Locations under this name
- 8 registered nationally
- Location precision
- Street address matched by the US Census geocoder
Reading this record
The practice bills under the legal name Elite Eyecare Medical Group A Medical Corporation and registered Shepard Eye Center as its trading name, so an insurance statement may show a name that does not match the sign on the door. Beyond the primary code the record carries Optometrist, which is the registry's own signal that the practice covers more than routine work. 8 locations nationally are registered under the same name, so pricing and policies are likely to be set at group level rather than at this office. The entry was last refreshed in January 2022. That is neither fresh nor ancient by the standards of this metro, where 11 of 49 records were updated in 2024 or later and 25 predate 2020.
For local context: Santa Maria holds 14 registered eye care practices in this snapshot, 6 of them optometry and 8 ophthalmology, in ZIP codes including 93454. No other practice in the city took its NPI earlier than this one, which makes it the longest-registered address here. The closest is Michael J Young in Santa Maria, 0.6 miles away.
None of this is a licensing check. CMS issues an NPI so a provider can be identified in billing transactions, and states plainly that issuance does not ensure or validate that the holder is licensed or credentialed. The California boards hold the licensing record, and the practice itself is the only source for what it charges today.
Nearest registered practices
39 other registered eye care practices sit within 25 miles of this address, a radius that does not stop at the metro boundary. Inside the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara metro itself there are 49, 13 of them elsewhere in Santa Maria. The closest 5 are below, measured straight line between registered addresses.
| Practice | City | Registered as | Distance | Phone on record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael J Young | Santa Maria | Optometry | 0.6 mi | (805) 922-1993 |
| John R Prewett O D Inc | Santa Maria | Optometry | 0.8 mi | (805) 925-9575 |
| Shepard Eye Center | Santa Maria | Ophthalmology | 0.8 mi | (805) 925-9575 |
| William R Reid OD Inc | Santa Maria | Optometry | 1.0 mi | (805) 922-1923 |
| Firstsight Vision Services, Inc. | Santa Maria | Optometry | 1.0 mi | (805) 925-4794 |
Distances are straight line between registered practice locations, not driving distance. Records placed at a ZIP centroid rather than a matched street address are excluded from this comparison.
What to expect to pay at an ophthalmology practice like this
The NPI registry holds no prices, so nothing here is a quote from Shepard Eye Center, and ophthalmology practices do not publish fee schedules. Customers report paying $150 to $300 or more at this kind of practice without insurance, which is a reported band rather than a published price. The nearest published figure is $95, the median starting fee across the 1,280 US retail optical stores that print one (30 September 2026), and Medicare pays $149.64 for a comprehensive new-patient exam (CPT 92004). Ask Shepard Eye Center for its self-pay price.
Ophthalmology visits are usually medical rather than routine, which changes who pays: medical insurance and Medicare Part B cover a medically necessary exam, while a routine refraction for glasses is normally not covered. Ask whether the visit will be billed as medical or routine before you book, and compare with the 29 optometry practices on the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara page if you only need a prescription.