What Therapist Credentialing Costs (2026)
Individual Provider Credentialing starts at $2,000 for two payers: $1,000 mandatory provider setup and $1,000 for both applications. Five payers cost $3,500, and we follow each until the payer gives a written effective date or a final answer. Payers are added one at a time, up to 10 per provider, at the same $500. Medicare or Medicaid enrollment is $450 per program. Other services charge $79 to $450 per payer, and what that buys varies a lot.
What’s Included
Our individual provider credentialing covers, per payer, the application, CAQH/DataSpring alignment, portal registration, EFT/ERA setup, and follow-up until the payer decides in writing. You sign the applications and attest your own profile. If you’d rather we update it, you can choose to share your sign-in through secure onboarding and change the password afterward.
Not open yet, or leaving Headway, Alma, Grow or Rula to start your own practice? First Practice Launch sets up your payers, EHR, scheduling and medical billing together for $1,500 a month for four months or $6,000 paid in full.
The work behind each payer path:
- Application build and submission. We prepare and submit the application and its business records, then confirm the payer logged it.
- CAQH/DataSpring alignment. We audit your profile with you so it matches what each payer receives, before any payer pulls it.
- Portals and payment setup. We register you on the required insurance portals and set up EFT and ERA, so payments and remittances route correctly the day a payer network goes active.
- Managed follow-up. We follow up with each payer at least every 10 business days, escalate when a file goes quiet, resubmit anything lost, and confirm the effective date on approval. If a payer says no or its network is closed, you get that in writing and that payer is complete.
You finish with a written handoff covering the effective date, confirmed portals and payment routing, so you know the day you can bill. We begin within three business days after we receive your completed onboarding information, documents and access.
Government enrollment is $450 per provider for each Medicare, Medicaid or Medicaid managed care program in each state. Group discounts apply automatically at checkout.
What You Do Yourself
Not much, but it matters. You review and sign the final applications, and you control your DataSpring provider profile (formerly CAQH) and attest it, because that attestation belongs to the provider. Your NPPES, CAQH/DataSpring and portal accounts stay in your name, and you keep them if we part ways.
What Other Credentialing Services Charge
Published prices run from $79 to $450 per payer on the pages we checked. Read closely what each price includes.
| Source | Published Price | What the Page Says It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| GetPaneled | $79 per payer; $349 for CAQH setup plus five payer enrollments in one state | CAQH and NPI onboarding included with payer enrollment |
| MedSole RCM | Starting at $99 per insurance credential | CAQH management, application completion, payer follow-up and recredentialing deadline tracking |
| TheraProfessional | $275 to $450 per payer; $900 to $1,800 total for most providers with three to five payers | Separate maintenance retainers start at $99 per month |
| Medwave cost guide (all provider types) | $100 to $300 per provider, per payer | Ongoing maintenance, including revalidation and recredentialing, $600 to $2,400 a year per provider |
| AdvanceAPractice | $1,000 setup plus $500 per payer; two payers is $2,000 and five is $3,500 | Application, CAQH/DataSpring alignment, portals, EFT and ERA, follow-up until each payer gives its decision in writing |
Prices are as published when we checked in September 2026. They change, so confirm first.
With five payers the gap is real: $349 at one end, $3,500 with us. Ask every company three questions. Does the price end at submission or at a written effective date? Who sets up EFT and ERA? What happens at recredentialing?
Why Per Payer Prices Differ So Much
Where The Price Stops
Filing is the short part; the payer’s review is the long part. A price that ends at submission leaves the follow-up to you: status checks, missing document requests, resubmissions. Ours runs until the payer approves and confirms an effective date in writing.
EFT/ERA And Portal Setup
Approval doesn’t move money on its own. EFT sends payments to your bank account, ERA sends the remittance detail your billing system posts from, and each payer has its own portal registration. If a quote leaves those out, you’ll do them yourself or pay later.
Recredentialing
Getting into a payer network isn’t your last application, since payers recredential on a cycle. Cigna Behavioral Health, for example, recredentials each contracted practitioner every three years. Some companies fold that into maintenance, which Medwave puts at $600 to $2,400 a year per provider. Others price it separately, usually for less than the first round.
Profile Maintenance
Your CAQH/DataSpring profile runs on a 120-day attestation cycle, and payers such as Cigna expect you to re-attest on schedule. TheraProfessional’s retainers start at $99 a month, and Medwave puts management fees at $50 to $200 per provider per month. With us, we align the data, you attest it, and we won’t ask for your password.
Costs That Aren’t The Fee
Some of this is free, some you already pay for, and one piece costs you time.
- Your DataSpring profile: $0. DataSpring (formerly CAQH) doesn’t charge providers to use its portal.
- Your NPI: $0. CMS doesn’t charge for an NPI. You apply through NPPES.
- Malpractice coverage. We’ll ask for your current malpractice face sheet or certificate of insurance. The premium and any payer or third-party fees sit outside our price.
- Your time. You upload each record once, in a secure workspace, never by email: photo ID, license, IRS EIN letter (CP 575 or 147C), bank issued ACH instructions and your practice Type 2 NPI. Then you sign the applications and re-attest every 120 days.
- The wait. Plan on 60 to 120 days per commercial payer from a clean submission. That’s payer review time no company controls.
Common Questions
Why Is A $1,000 Setup Plus $500 Per Payer Higher Than Some Quotes?
It runs until each payer decides in writing. Each payer path includes the application, CAQH/DataSpring alignment, portal registration, EFT and ERA setup, and scheduled follow up. A lower quote may stop at submission, so check where each price ends.
How Long Does Therapist Credentialing Take?
Plan on 60 to 120 days per commercial payer from a clean submission. That’s typical, but payers control their own decisions and timing, so nobody can promise a date.
See Your Exact Price
Pick your payers and any Medicare or Medicaid paths. The builder shows every line before checkout, and provider, payer and state details move to secure onboarding after payment.
Prescribing clinician? The same breakdown is here for PMHNP credentialing cost and physician credentialing cost.
Keep Reading
Choose The Right Credentialing Path
Opening a practice, adding a provider, moving existing payer relationships, and seeking new contracts require different work. See the price and scope that match your situation.