CAQH from zero - The Practice Owner's Guide

CAQH ProView is the shared credentialing database most commercial payers pull from. Fill it out once, attest, authorize payers to read it, and every application gets faster. An incomplete profile stalls silently and adds 30+ days per payer.

Stage the documents first

Gather these so you finish in one sitting: state licenses, DEA certificate, malpractice certificate of insurance, board certification, diploma and training certificates, a CV with month-and-year dates and no gaps, the practice W-9, your Type 1 NPI, and the practice’s Type 2 NPI and EIN.

What each section needs

Section	The thing that matters
IDs	Legal name exactly as on your license. Every NPI, license, and DEA number.
Education & training	Month-and-year dates that match your CV exactly.
Work history	No unexplained gaps over 6 months. One line explains a gap.
Practice locations	Ties you to the entity: Type 2 NPI, EIN, addresses. Must match the W-9 exactly, or contracts get built on the wrong TIN.
Hospital affiliations	No privileges? Say so and list a coverage arrangement. Blank reads as incomplete.
Disclosures	Answer honestly with short explanations. Disclosed is routine, discovered is an escalation.
Documents	Upload everything staged above. The malpractice COI expires: top recurring maintenance item.

Authorize and attest

Turn on global authorization so any payer you apply to can read the profile. Then attest, and re-attest every 120 days. An expired attestation makes your profile invisible mid-application. Calendar it with your document expiry dates (compliance calendar).

If a payer says “waiting on CAQH”

Check three things: the payer is authorized, the attestation is current, and your practice location TIN matches the W-9 they have. That covers most stalls. Then chase weekly like any other application (Get credentialed).