Guide
Oregon Practitioner Credentialing Application (OPCA) 2026: Step By Step
Oregon credentialing organizations must use the Oregon Practitioner Credentialing Application. This guide explains who uses it, how to fill it out and how it relates to CAQH/DataSpring, using the Oregon Health Authority's own pages.
Credentialing
The Oregon Practitioner Credentialing Application, or OPCA, is the standard form Oregon hospitals and health plans use to credential clinicians. The Oregon Health Authority’s Advisory Committee on Physician Credentialing Information maintains it, so one application can go to several organizations. The 2025 version is current, and the committee’s page gave organizations until September 14, 2026 to switch, which has passed.
Who Has To Use The OPCA
The rule is written for credentialing organizations, not you. OAR 409-045-0035 says they shall use the latest versions of the Oregon Practitioner Credentialing Application and the Oregon Practitioner Recredentialing Application approved and published by the Authority. The broad definition includes health plan issuers, hospitals, coordinated care organizations and independent practice associations. They get ten months to switch after a new version is approved and published.
The committee’s page is more cautious, calling the form a convenience to providers and saying credentialing is not currently governed by the state. You’ll meet the OPCA when an Oregon organization asks. Some payers use CAQH/DataSpring instead, covered below.
OPCA Or OPRA: Which One Applies
The OPCA is the initial application. The Oregon Practitioner Recredentialing Application, the OPRA, is the shorter recredentialing version. The 2025 OPCA runs 16 pages across 21 sections. The 2025 OPRA runs 13 pages across 16 sections, and most of its attestation questions and its work history look back three years instead of your whole career.
The committee’s FAQ says the state doesn’t govern reappointment timelines, except for telemedicine providers and Managed Care Entities. For telemedicine, OAR 409-045-0120 calls for a current OPRA every two years. For Managed Care Entities, OAR 410-141-3510 says participating providers are recredentialed at least every three years. Otherwise your payer or hospital sets your date.
What To Have Ready
The form lists the required documents: your state professional license or licenses, a DEA certificate or CSR certificate if you hold one, an ECFMG certificate if it applies and the face sheet of your professional liability policy or certificate. A curriculum vitae is optional and doesn’t replace the form. Attach copies each time you submit.
You’ll also need your individual NPI and, in a group, the group’s Type 2 NPI. Section VI asks for the group NPI and section XIV for your Type 1 NPI plus your Medicare and Oregon Medicaid numbers. If you don’t have a Type 2 NPI yet, our guide to opening a practice while you’re still employed covers where it fits.
Filling It Out, Step By Step
- Download the current fillable version from the Oregon Health Authority page. The committee will email an unprotected copy on request, but any change to wording or formatting invalidates the application, and that’s on you.
- Complete the application in its entirety. If a section doesn’t apply to you or your practitioner type, check the Does Not Apply box at its top rather than leaving it blank.
- Give a full work history. The OPCA asks you to account for all time from entering professional school to now, explaining any gap over two months in section B.
- List your hospital and facility affiliations, three peer references, continuing education and professional liability coverage.
- Answer the attestation questions, then sign and date the Attestation Questions page, the Authorization and Release of Information form and, if you report a professional liability claim, Attachment A.
- Initial every page and date your last review.
- Name each receiving organization, attach your documents and send it there, not to the state, which shreds any it receives, citing confidentiality.
- Keep an unsigned, undated copy for the next request.
The Attestation Questions
Section XXI of the OPCA is a set of yes or no questions, lettered A through O, covering licenses and DEA registration, sanctions by Medicare, Medicaid or any public program, privileges and participation at any health care organization, professional organization memberships, training programs, board certification, reports to a data bank or licensing authority, criminal charges, current illegal drug use, your ability to perform the role’s services, professional liability claims and insurance terminations. Question O attests to health conditions affecting your ability to practice: check the box or list them on a separate sheet.
Answer yes to any and add details on a signed, dated separate sheet. The signature block certifies the application is complete, current, correct and not misleading, and that misstatements or omissions are cause for denial. You also agree to update it if anything changes during processing. A photocopy of the signed application has the same force as the original.
The OPRA asks similar questions, but most cover only the last three years. Its professional liability claims question asks about the last five.
How CAQH/DataSpring Fits In Oregon
The OPCA and CAQH/DataSpring are two ways to hand a payer the same facts. The OPCA is a document you send to each organization. Your CAQH/DataSpring profile is an online record you maintain, attest to on a 120 day cycle and authorize plans to view. Each payer picks one.
Moda’s Oregon credentialing page says to select Moda in the CAQH portal, and your application and attestation stay active there for 120 days from the day you sign. It also says Moda accepts the state standardized applications directly from providers in Oregon and Texas. Providence Health Plan’s behavioral health page asks you to include your CAQH number with its new provider form, and to complete the OPCA if you don’t use CAQH.
Oregon once planned a statewide credentialing database. The Oregon Health Authority’s program FAQ, updated in July 2018, announced its suspension, noting that some CAQH-using organizations and practitioners saw the requirement as duplicative. Complete the OPCA and CAQH profile from the same source records so dates, license numbers, practice locations and work history gaps match line for line. Our CAQH and DataSpring walkthrough covers the profile side.
What Changed In The 2025 Version
The committee approved the 2025 changes on January 29, 2025, and its summary lists them. Both applications gained optional race, ethnicity, language and disability questions, with a statement that organizations don’t base credentialing decisions on those answers. The OPCA added an issue date field for the DEA registration number, changed supervising physician to collaborating physician and rephrased the health condition attestation. The OPRA gained a continuity of care admission plan section like the OPCA’s.
After You Submit
Once the application is in, the date an insurer receives a complete one matters. Oregon’s statute defines it as one with the required information, proof of your license, your DEA registration if it applies and proof of professional liability coverage meeting the insurer’s requirements. The OPCA’s attachments match that list. Our post on getting paid while credentialing is pending in Oregon and the Western States explains the 90 day rule and what it means for your claims.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The OPCA Required In Oregon?
The state rule tells credentialing organizations to use the latest approved versions of the OPCA and OPRA. The committee’s page also says credentialing isn’t currently governed by the state. Ask each payer or hospital which form it wants.
Where Do I Send My Completed OPCA?
To the organization you’re applying to, not the state, which shreds applications it receives because of confidentiality.
Can I Edit The Wording On The Form?
No. The form states that modifying its wording or format invalidates the application. The committee provides an unprotected copy on request, and you must not change it.
What Is The OPRA?
It’s the Oregon Practitioner Recredentialing Application, used when an organization recredentials you. Most attestation questions cover the last three years.
Do I Need CAQH If I Complete The OPCA?
It depends on the payer. Moda’s page describes CAQH as its application route but also accepts the state application directly, and Providence asks for a CAQH number or the OPCA. Confirm with each payer.
Official Sources
- Oregon Health Authority, ACPCI: State Application (OPCA)
- Oregon Health Authority, ACPCI: State Recredentialing Application (OPRA)
- 2025 Oregon Practitioner Credentialing Application (MSC 9048, 09/2025)
- 2025 Oregon Practitioner Recredentialing Application (MSC 9048r, 09/2025)
- ACPCI: Summary of changes reflected in the 2025 applications
- ACPCI: Frequently Asked Questions
- Oregon Administrative Rules, Chapter 409, Division 45 (OAR 409-045-0025, 0035, 0120)
- ORS 743B.454, Claims submitted during credentialing period
- Oregon Common Credentialing Program FAQs (updated July 25, 2018)
- Moda Health: Credentialing, Oregon Providers
- Providence Health Plan: Behavioral Health Network
Getting Your Oregon Applications Done
If you’d rather not fill in forms for every payer, our credentialing service prepares, submits and follows your applications. Our Oregon credentialing guide covers the payers one by one, and our Portland page covers working with us from the Portland area.
This is general information, not legal advice. Forms, rules and payer requirements change, so confirm with the Oregon Health Authority and each payer before submitting. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.
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