> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mso.getlemma.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up and maintain CAQH profiles

> Build a complete CAQH ProView profile, upload the documents payers require, authorize payers, and survive the re-attestation cycle.

**CAQH ProView** is a shared credentialing database most commercial payers pull from. One profile per clinician replaces filling in the same forty pages for every payer. It does **not** replace payer enrollment; it feeds it.

## Prerequisites

* The clinician's Type 1 NPI
* Current license, DEA registration where applicable, board certification
* A malpractice certificate of insurance
* **A complete work history with no unexplained gaps**

## Steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Get the CAQH Provider ID">
    Either the clinician already has one — most do, from a prior employer — or you register at [proview.caqh.org](https://proview.caqh.org/). Some payers can initiate the invitation.

    Check for an existing profile before creating a new one. Duplicate CAQH profiles cause the same class of problem as duplicate NPIs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Complete every section">
    | Section                                          | Watch for                                                                                                       |
    | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | Personal information                             | Legal name matching the license exactly                                                                         |
    | Education and training                           | Dates, institutions, program directors                                                                          |
    | **Work history**                                 | **Every gap over a defined period needs an explanation**, this is the most common reason a profile is sent back |
    | Licenses                                         | Every state, with numbers and expiration dates                                                                  |
    | DEA and state controlled substance registrations | Where applicable                                                                                                |
    | Board certification                              | Certifying board, dates                                                                                         |
    | Malpractice insurance                            | Carrier, policy number, limits, effective dates                                                                 |
    | Hospital privileges                              | Or the admitting arrangement if none, do not leave blank                                                        |
    | Practice locations                               | Address, hours, phone, languages, accessibility, whether accepting new patients                                 |
    | Disclosure questions                             | Malpractice history, license actions, criminal history                                                          |
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload supporting documents">
    Current license, DEA certificate, malpractice COI, board certification, CV, and a signed release. Documents must be current — an expired COI stalls the profile.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Authorize the payers">
    Explicitly authorize each payer you intend to enroll with to access the profile. **An unauthorized payer cannot see it**, and the application sits waiting for information the payer cannot retrieve.

    Authorize broadly, including payers you might enroll with later. There is no cost to authorization.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attest">
    The profile is not usable until attested. Attestation is the clinician's certification that the information is accurate.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Calendar the re-attestation">
    <Warning>
      **Attestation expires.** CAQH requires re-attestation on a recurring cycle, commonly described as roughly every 120 days. A lapsed attestation makes the profile invisible to payers **mid-credentialing**, and applications stall silently. This is one of the most common causes of a credentialing application going quiet.

      Put it on the compliance calendar the day you attest, with a 14-day lead. Verify the current interval in CAQH's own documentation, since it has changed over time.
    </Warning>
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Ongoing maintenance

Update the profile whenever:

* A license or DEA registration is renewed
* The malpractice policy renews — **the COI must be current**
* Board certification is renewed
* The clinician adds a state license
* A practice location is added or changed
* Anything in the disclosure questions changes

Then **re-attest**, because an update without attestation may not propagate.

## Delegating maintenance

For a group with many clinicians, this is a real workload, profiles times clinicians times re-attestation cycles.

Options:

| Approach                                                           | Fits                                   |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- |
| **Clinician self-maintains**                                       | Small groups; unreliable at scale      |
| **Credentialing coordinator maintains** with clinician attestation | Most groups                            |
| **Credentialing software** with CAQH integration                   | Groups with many clinicians and payers |
| **Outsourced credentialing service**                               | Groups without internal capacity       |

Attestation itself is generally the clinician's act. Everything else can be delegated.

<Tip>
  **CAQH profiles are one of the few things that transfer when you expand.** A clinician licensed in a second state updates their existing profile rather than building a new one. Keeping profiles clean pays off at expansion. See [Enroll with payers, again](/start/second-state/payer-enrollment-again).
</Tip>

## CAQH EnrollHub

A separate product from the same organization, for **EFT and ERA enrollment**. Submit bank account details once for participating payers rather than a separate form and voided check for each.

Not every payer participates, but where they do it saves real time. See [Set up EDI, ERA, and EFT](/guides/enrollment/set-up-edi-era-eft).

## Verify it worked

* [ ] No duplicate profile created
* [ ] Every section complete
* [ ] No unexplained work history gaps
* [ ] All documents current and uploaded
* [ ] Target payers authorized
* [ ] Profile attested
* [ ] Re-attestation date calendared with a 14-day lead
* [ ] A named owner for ongoing maintenance

## Common failure modes

| Failure                              | Consequence                                        |
| ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Attestation lapses mid-credentialing | Application stalls silently for weeks              |
| Payer not authorized                 | Payer cannot access the profile; application waits |
| Expired malpractice COI              | Profile incomplete; credentialing blocked          |
| Unexplained work history gap         | Profile returned; weeks lost                       |
| Hospital privileges left blank       | Treated as incomplete rather than as "none"        |
| Duplicate profile                    | Payers pull the wrong one                          |
| Updated without re-attesting         | Changes may not propagate                          |


## Related topics

- [Step 6: NPIs, taxonomy, and CAQH](/start/zero-to-paid/get-npis-and-caqh.md)
- [Credential each new provider you hire](/guides/enrollment/credential-new-providers.md)
- [Track licenses, revalidations, and expirables](/guides/enrollment/maintain-revalidations.md)
- [Enroll and contract with commercial payers](/guides/enrollment/enroll-with-commercial-payers.md)
- [Payer enrollment & submission links](/reference/payers/enrollment-links.md)