Timelines by payer type
- Commercial payers (BCBS, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Anthem): 60–120 days
- Medicare (PECOS / 855I / 855R): 45–90 days
- State Medicaid: 60–120 days, longer where an MCO layer is required
- Managed Medicaid MCOs (Anthem, Molina, Centene, WellCare, etc.): typically 30–90 days once state Medicaid ID is issued
- Behavioral networks (Optum Behavioral, Magellan, Carelon, Beacon, Evernorth): 60–120 days
- Delegated credentialing rosters: days to a few weeks
What actually shortens credentialing time
- File in parallel, not sequentially. Every commercial payer and every state Medicaid can be filed the same week — sequencing them wastes months.
- Clean CAQH at intake. A stale or incomplete CAQH is the #1 cause of application rejection.
- Explain malpractice history and work gaps up front. Payers will ask; pre-empting the ask saves a full review cycle.
- Weekly follow-up with payer reps. Applications that don't get chased sit in queues for months.
- Escalation paths. Named contacts at each payer, not the generic 1-800 line.
- Retro-billing windows. Where the payer allows retro-effective dates, capture them — you can bill from the retro date once the contract activates.
What slows credentialing down
- Missing documents at intake (COI, DEA, license in the wrong state)
- Provider is slow to sign attestations
- Sanction / malpractice review requiring committee approval
- Medicaid enrollment where the state requires the group TIN to enroll before individuals
- MCO roster loads that only run monthly
Bottom line
A well-run credentialing engagement gets the average provider live with most commercial payers in ~90 days and with Medicare/Medicaid in ~60–90 days, in parallel. If you're seeing longer, the issue is usually filing cadence or follow-up — not the payer. Credify Health handles both.