Switching Credentialing Companies: A Payer-by-Payer Handoff Checklist
How to move open and approved payer files to a new credentialing company without losing the record, the access, or a deadline.
Switching credentialing companies means moving every open and approved payer file to a new company without losing the record: list each application by provider and payer, confirm its status with the payer itself, move access through each system’s own process (CAQH, PECOS, Availity, UnitedHealthcare Onboard Pro), and give every open item a named owner and a next date. You can do it in the middle of an application. The application is filed in the provider’s or the group’s name, under their NPI and tax ID; the company working it is a contact on the file, not its owner.
What you cannot assume is that the old company’s spreadsheet matches the payer’s record, that a file keeps its place in line, or that its effective date carries over. No payer we checked publishes a rule that does either. This page is the checklist we use when a practice brings us a file someone else started.
Last updated October 23, 2026. Reviewed by Jacob Greenberg, ClaimCarePro.
The handoff in seven steps
In this order, because each step needs the one before it.
- Decide what is changing. Only the credentialing company, or billing too? Any new provider, location, tax ID or owner at the same time? Those are separate payer changes with their own forms; see adding a provider to your group.
- Request a usable record set from the outgoing company (below).
- Build one inventory row per application, per provider, per payer and product.
- Confirm each status with the payer, not the spreadsheet.
- Move access through each system’s own process, and remove the old company’s.
- Assign every deadline the payer has actually stated, with an owner.
- Accept the handoff only when every row has evidence, an owner and a next date, including the rows marked “unconfirmed.”
What to ask the old credentialing company for
Evidence of what happened, not a list of status labels.
- Every application submitted, by provider, payer and product, with the date and the channel (portal, email, fax, CAQH).
- Submission confirmations and reference or case numbers. UnitedHealthcare, for one, says it emails a reference number shortly after an Onboard Pro application is received (UHC).
- The follow-up log: who at the payer was spoken to, on what date, and the call reference.
- Payer letters and requests for more information, and what was sent back.
- Approval letters, contracts and effective-date notices for the approved files.
- Who holds each login and administrator role: CAQH practice-manager access, PECOS surrogacy, Availity, the UnitedHealthcare portal and any other payer portal.
- Upcoming recredentialing, revalidation and document-expiration dates.
Ask for passwords not to be sent at all. Every system on this page gives an outside company its own access; a shared login is the thing to retire, not to hand over.
Before you give notice, read your agreement’s notice, termination and record-return terms. If the company will not cooperate and the agreement is in dispute, get legal advice; we do not give legal conclusions, and nothing here is one.
The handoff inventory: one row per application
Example rows. Use the payer’s real name and product, never just “Blue Cross” or “commercial.”
| Provider | Payer / product | Work requested | Last evidence | Date checked | Access holder | Next action | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider A (NP) | UnitedHealthcare, commercial | Initial application, join group | Onboard Pro reference number; dashboard status | Oct 20 | Group’s UHC primary access administrator | Confirm application is open; add new company as a user | Office manager |
| Provider A (NP) | Medicare Part B | CMS-855I with reassignment to the group | None found; old company reported “submitted” | Oct 20 | Old company (PECOS surrogate) | Check PECOS; disable old connection; approve new surrogate | Group Authorized Official |
| Provider B (MD) | Florida Blue | Add provider to group | Payer letter requesting malpractice certificate | Oct 21 | Group’s Availity administrator | Send the certificate by the payer’s stated channel and date | New company |
| Provider B (MD) | Aetna | Approved; recredentialing due next year | Welcome letter with effective date | Oct 21 | Provider (CAQH login) | Move to maintenance; calendar the recredentialing date | New company |
| Both | CAQH profiles | Re-attestation every 120 days | Last attestation date in the profile | Oct 21 | Each provider | Re-attest and re-authorize payers as needed | Each provider, with new company |
Two columns do most of the work. Last evidence keeps “submitted by the old company” apart from “received by the payer”: the second row above says submitted, but nothing on the payer side backs it, so its status is unconfirmed until someone checks PECOS. Access holder shows where the old company still has a key. Include the approved files, too; the new company needs to know what must stay untouched as much as what needs work.
Keep provider documents (licenses, DEA, malpractice certificates) out of the spreadsheet. The row says where the document is; the document goes through a secure channel. Our own intake list is on what we need from you.
Confirm status with the payer, not the spreadsheet
The payer’s record is the only one that counts.
For each row, call the payer’s credentialing line or check its portal with the provider’s NPI, the group’s tax ID and the reference number if there is one, and record five things: what the payer is waiting for, where the answer must go, the deadline it states, who may respond, and the rep’s name, the date and the call reference. Where each payer’s status tool lives is on how to check credentialing status.
Do not send a second application because the old records are thin. A duplicate can confuse an open file. Find out first whether the payer has one, and what it needs to keep it moving under the new contact. Equally, when the payer has no record at all, that is the answer: the file gets filed, and its clock starts from the new submission.
How to transfer CAQH, PECOS and portal access
Each system has its own process. All read October 23, 2026.
| System | Who controls access | How access moves | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAQH Provider Data Portal (ProView) | The provider. “Only you can authorize who has access to your information.” A Practice Manager exports shared data; the provider imports it, authorizes plans and attests. | Provider logs in (or recovers the login through DataSpring support, 1-888-599-1771) and keeps the login; give the new company practice-manager access rather than the password. | CAQH quick reference; Practice Manager guide v1.1 |
| PECOS (Medicare), through CMS I&A | The provider, or the group’s Authorized Official and Access Managers, who manage surrogacy requests. | Disable the old company’s surrogacy connection and approve the new one. CMS: a connection does not expire; either party may disable it at any time. A departed AO is replaced through the EUS help desk with the EIN and NPI. | CMS I&A FAQs (Jan 20, 2026) |
| Availity Essentials (Florida Blue, Humana, Aetna and other payers that use it) | One primary administrator per organization, typically an office manager. A billing service registers its own account. | Administrator deactivates the old company’s users for each organization they belong to and adds the new company’s users. Changing the primary administrator on record takes a call to Availity Client Services, 1-800-282-4548. | Availity administrator guide (rev. March 2026) |
| UnitedHealthcare provider portal and Onboard Pro | One primary access administrator per organization, the only user who can manage third-party access. | Primary access administrator adds the new company and removes the old one. Accounts deactivate after 90 consecutive days of inactivity, so confirm yours still works before the handoff. | UHC portal access; UHC Join Our Network |
The pattern is the same everywhere: the practice or the provider keeps the administrator role, and each outside company gets its own user that can be switched off. The PECOS row is the one practices forget, because a surrogacy connection never expires on its own. More on each system: CAQH explained and PECOS, I&A and surrogates. Medicare forms themselves are on Medicare provider enrollment.
What a new company can and cannot inherit
So nobody promises what a payer controls.
It can inherit every application the payer confirms as open, the evidence trail, the approved files and their recredentialing dates, and the CAQH profile, which was the provider’s all along.
It cannot inherit a place in line or an effective date. Those belong to the payer’s handling of the provider’s application, and no payer we checked publishes a rule about vendor changes. It also cannot inherit signature authority. A payer may need a new signature or attestation from the provider: CAQH attestation is always the provider’s, and on Medicare applications a surrogate can prepare the file while the practitioner or the group’s authorized or delegated official signs (see PECOS explained). Ask each payer what it needs to record the new contact; the answer differs.
Signs your credentialing company is not working the file
When “credentialing company not responding” is the search, check these first.
- No rep, no date, no reference. Updates say “pending” or “in process” without the payer rep’s name, the date of the call and a reference number.
- Pending 90 days or more with no payer-side evidence: no confirmation, no case number, no request letter. Check it yourself on credentialing status by payer.
- The CAQH profile has expired or was never authorized for the payer that is supposed to be reading it.
- Nobody can say who holds the administrator role on your Availity or UnitedHealthcare account, or the old company’s login is the only one.
- Approved files with no calendar. No recredentialing or revalidation dates on file; see recredentialing cycles.
In our casework, the files that stall usually stall on bad data from the providers: an old address on one record, a lapsed document, an NPI or tax ID that does not match across the application, CAQH and the state record. A handoff is a good moment to catch those, because every record gets read again.
Switching billing companies is a separate decision
Different handoff, different risks.
A billing switch moves claims, A/R, clearinghouse enrollment and payer remittance; a credentialing switch moves applications, CAQH, PECOS and portal roles. You can change one company and keep the other, and if both change, run them as two lists with two owners. Our notes on the billing side are in medical billing contract terms, which covers switching medical billing companies without losing A/R.
How ClaimCarePro takes over a credentialing file
The same process we run on files we start.
- Intake packet. You send what is on what we need plus whatever the old company handed over. We build the inventory above from it.
- Access set up the right way. CAQH practice-manager access, a PECOS surrogacy connection, our own users on Availity and the UnitedHealthcare portal. You keep the administrator roles; we never ask for a password.
- Every row confirmed with the payer, then weekly payer follow-up with the rep, the date and the reference logged on each file, so the next status report has evidence behind it.
- Refile only what the payer says is missing or not on record.
Pricing is published: $250 per payer application per provider for applications we file or refile, CAQH setup $250 if a profile has to be built, and $99 per provider per year maintenance for files that are already approved, covering CAQH re-attestation, expirables tracking and address and tax-ID updates. We do not promise that an application keeps its place or its effective date; the payer decides both. The full service is on provider credentialing services, and payer-by-payer guides are on the credentialing payers hub.
Switching credentialing companies: questions
Can I switch credentialing companies mid-application?
Who owns my CAQH profile?
What if my credentialing company won’t give me my files?
Do I have to start over when I switch credentialing companies?
How do I know if my credentialing company submitted my application?
Can my old credentialing company still get into PECOS after I switch?
What are the signs my credentialing company is not working my file?
Is switching credentialing companies the same as switching billing companies?
How much does ClaimCarePro charge to take over credentialing?
Sources
- CMS Identity & Access FAQs, dated January 20, 2026, read October 23, 2026
- CAQH ProView Provider Quick Reference Guide, read October 23, 2026
- CAQH ProView Practice Manager Module User Guide, version 1.1, read October 23, 2026
- CAQH Provider Data Portal help page (DataSpring clinician support), read October 23, 2026
- Availity Essentials administrator guide (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, revised March 2026), read October 23, 2026
- UnitedHealthcare provider portal access and UnitedHealthcare Join Our Network (Onboard Pro), read October 23, 2026
Bring us the file someone else started
$250 per payer application per provider · $99 per provider per year maintenance · weekly payer follow-up, logged.
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Last updated October 23, 2026. Reviewed by Jacob Greenberg, ClaimCarePro.