Credentialing • Published March 15, 2026
The Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) ProView database is the industry standard for collecting provider data. Almost every major commercial health plan relies on CAQH to retrieve your credentialing information. However, a single error in your profile can stall your enrollment for months.
Here are the top five CAQH mistakes we see providers make, and how to avoid them:
1. Letting the 120-Day Attestation Lapse
CAQH requires providers to review and attest that their information is accurate every 120 days. If you miss this attestation window, your profile becomes invisible to payers. Many practices fail to track this deadline, leading to sudden network terminations or delayed re-credentialing.
2. Mismatched Service Locations
Payers cross-reference your CAQH service locations with the address listed on your W-9 and your NPPES (NPI) record. If these addresses do not match exactly (down to the suite number), your application will be flagged and delayed.
3. Expired Primary Source Documents
Your CAQH profile requires active copies of your medical license, DEA certificate, and malpractice insurance face sheet. Uploading documents that are set to expire within the next 30 days — or failing to upload the renewed versions — will cause the payer credentialing committee to reject the file.
4. Incomplete Work History
CAQH requires a complete, unbroken chronological work history spanning the last five years. If there is a gap in employment of more than 30 days, you must provide a written explanation. Leaving unexplained gaps is one of the most common reasons for application pushback.
5. Forgetting to Authorize Payers
Even if your profile is perfectly completed and attested, payers cannot see your data unless you specifically authorize them to do so in the CAQH system. Always ensure you have selected "Global Authorization" or manually checked off every specific payer you intend to contract with.
Takeaway
Your CAQH profile is a living document. Treat it like your professional license — check it quarterly, keep documents current, and never let an attestation lapse. When in doubt, have an expert audit the profile before your next credentialing cycle.