CAQH ProView: Complete Setup, Attestation, and Maintenance Guide
CAQH ProView is the online database most commercial health plans use to collect and verify provider credentialing information. A provider completes one profile, authorizes specific payers to access it, uploads supporting documents, and re-attests that the data is accurate every 120 days. It is free for providers, and it does not replace Medicare or most state Medicaid enrollment.
CAQH sits underneath nearly every commercial credentialing application. When a payer says your application is pending, they are often waiting on data they pull from your CAQH profile. When an application stalls for weeks with no explanation, an expired attestation or an outdated document is one of the first things to check.
This guide covers how ProView works, what each section requires, the 120-day attestation cycle, and the errors that quietly stop credentialing in its tracks.
What CAQH ProView Is and What It Isn’t
CAQH is a non-profit alliance of health plans. ProView is its provider data portal. Rather than every payer sending a provider the same 20-page credentialing application, payers pull from one shared profile the provider maintains.
What it is:
- A single source of credentialing data shared with authorized payers
- Free for providers — payers fund access
- The default data source for most commercial plans and many Medicaid managed care organizations
- Where primary source verification often begins
What it is not:
- Not Medicare enrollment. Medicare uses PECOS with the CMS-855I and CMS-855R. CAQH plays no role.
- Not most state Medicaid enrollment. Most states run their own portals, though some MCOs use CAQH.
- Not credentialing itself. Completing a CAQH profile does not enroll you anywhere. Payers still have to credential you and issue a contract with an effective date.
- Not automatic. Payers only see your profile if you have authorized them.
That last point causes more confusion than any other. A complete, attested profile that no payer is authorized to view does nothing.
CAQH Provider ID vs NPI
Two different numbers with two different jobs. Your NPI is your national identifier used on claims and in NPPES. Your CAQH Provider ID identifies your ProView profile. Payers ask for both, and they aren’t interchangeable.
Getting a CAQH Profile
Most providers never sign up on their own — a payer initiates it. When you submit a credentialing application, the payer sends a CAQH invitation with your Provider ID and registration instructions.
You can also self-register at the CAQH ProView site if you want the profile ready before applying, which is the better approach when onboarding a new provider with a known start date.
Before you start, collect:
- NPI and, if applicable, your group’s Type 2 NPI
- State license numbers and expiration dates for every state
- DEA certificate and any state controlled substance registrations
- Board certification documents
- Malpractice insurance face sheet with current policy dates
- CV with month and year for every position
- Graduate education details
- Practice location addresses, phone, fax, office hours
- Hospital affiliations
- IRS W-9
Starting the profile without these is the most common reason it sits half-finished for weeks.
Completing the Profile, Section by Section
Personal information. Legal name exactly as it appears on your license, contact details, and languages spoken. Name mismatches against your license cause verification failures.
Professional IDs. NPI, license numbers, DEA, state CSR, Medicare and Medicaid numbers where you have them. Every number needs an expiration date where one applies.
Education and training. Medical or graduate school, residency, fellowship, with dates. Some payers verify these directly with the institution.
Specialties. Primary and secondary specialty plus board certification. This must match your NPPES taxonomy. A mismatch here surfaces later as wrong directory listings and claim edits.
Practice locations. Every location where you see patients, with address, phone, fax, hours, accessibility details, and whether you’re accepting new patients. Payer directories are built from this — errors here become wrong information patients see.
Hospital affiliations. Admitting privileges. If you have none, say so explicitly rather than leaving it blank; blank fields read as incomplete.
Malpractice insurance. Carrier, policy number, coverage amounts, and current effective and expiration dates. Expired coverage dates in the profile will stop an application.
Work history. Month and year for every position since training, with no unexplained gaps over six months. Gaps need a written explanation in the profile — parental leave, relocation, further education. This is one of the most common reasons payers send a request for information, which restarts their internal clock.
Disclosure questions. Malpractice history, license actions, criminal history, sanctions. Answer every question. An unanswered disclosure question blocks attestation.
Authorization. Choose global authorization (any participating payer can view) or select payers individually. Global is simpler and appropriate for most providers; select individually if you have a reason to limit access.
Documents You Must Upload
| Document | Requirement |
|---|---|
| State license(s) | Current, all practice states |
| DEA certificate | Current, each state where you prescribe controlled substances |
| Malpractice face sheet | Current policy dates, coverage amounts visible |
| Board certification | Current |
| CV | Month-and-year dates matching the work history section |
| IRS W-9 | Current, matching your billing entity |
| Collaborative agreement | Where state law requires one |
Every upload must be current and legible. An expired document is treated as a missing document, and the profile is considered incomplete regardless of how many other sections are finished.
The 120-Day Attestation Cycle
This is the part that costs providers the most time, and it’s the simplest to get right.
Attestation is your confirmation that everything in the profile is accurate and current. CAQH requires re-attestation every 120 days — roughly three times a year.
What happens when attestation lapses:
- Payers stop pulling your data
- Applications already in progress stall, usually with no notification to you
- Recredentialing can fail, which can affect participating status
- You typically find out through denials, weeks later
That silence is the problem. Nothing alerts you that an application stopped moving. A provider can wait two months on an application that was frozen on day 12.
How to handle it properly:
- Set a calendar reminder at 100 days, not 120 — gives you buffer
- CAQH sends email reminders, but they are filtered to spam constantly. Whitelist the sender and do not rely on them alone.
- Re-attest immediately after any change: new license, address, malpractice renewal, added location
- For groups, track every provider’s attestation date in one shared sheet with the credentialing manager as owner
Attestation itself takes a few minutes once the profile is accurate. The cost is entirely in forgetting.
CAQH Errors That Stall Credentialing
| Error | What it causes | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Expired attestation | Applications freeze silently | Re-attest every 120 days; reminder at 100 |
| Expired uploaded document | Profile treated as incomplete | Audit uploads quarterly against expiration dates |
| Unexplained work history gap over 6 months | Request for information; clock restarts | Explain every gap in writing up front |
| No payer authorization | Payer reports “cannot access profile” | Use global authorization or add each payer |
| Specialty doesn’t match NPPES taxonomy | Claim edits, wrong directory listing | Align CAQH specialty with NPPES taxonomy |
| Practice address differs from NPPES | Directory errors, verification failures | Update both together, every time |
| Unanswered disclosure question | Attestation blocked | Answer all questions, including negatives |
| Malpractice dates lapsed in profile | Application denied or pended | Update within days of policy renewal |
| Name differs from license | Primary source verification fails | Use legal name exactly as licensed |
Most of these are silent failures. That’s what makes a quarterly profile audit worth the fifteen minutes it takes.
Tired of tracking attestation dates? Let us hold the calendar.
We maintain CAQH profiles, attestations, and document expirations for every provider in your practice — and we’ll audit your current profiles free to find what’s already stalling an application.
Keeping CAQH Current When Things Change
Update the profile and re-attest whenever any of these happen:
- New or renewed license — upload the new document, update the expiration
- Address or location change — update CAQH and NPPES together; payer directories pull from both, and mismatches create wrong listings
- Malpractice renewal — new face sheet, new dates
- New state of practice — license, DEA, and CSR for that state
- Name change — updated license first, then CAQH, then NPPES
- Leaving or joining a group — practice locations and W-9
The rule worth internalizing: CAQH and NPPES must always agree. When they diverge, payer directories go wrong, patients get bad information, and claims start hitting edits that are hard to trace back to their source.
CAQH for Practice Managers and Groups
If you manage credentialing for multiple providers, a few things make it sustainable:
- One tracking sheet with each provider’s CAQH ID, attestation due date, and every document expiration
- Organization-level access so you can maintain profiles without sharing individual logins
- A new-hire checklist: NPI verified → CAQH profile created or claimed → all documents uploaded → authorization set → attested → payer applications submitted
- A quarterly audit pass across all profiles rather than per-provider firefighting
For practices onboarding several providers a year, this is usually the point where credentialing stops being a side task for the office manager. Our credentialing and enrollment service includes CAQH setup, maintenance, and attestation tracking as standing work, not a one-time setup.
Where CAQH Fits in the Broader Credentialing Process
CAQH is one input into credentialing, not the whole thing. The full sequence:
- NPI and NPPES taxonomy verified
- CAQH profile completed, documents uploaded, payers authorized, attested
- Medicare enrollment via PECOS (855I, plus 855R for reassignment)
- State Medicaid enrollment, then Medicaid MCOs
- Commercial payer applications, drawing from CAQH
- Scheduled payer follow-up
- Effective dates confirmed in writing before scheduling patients
- Ongoing maintenance: 120-day attestation, recredentialing, revalidation
For the provider-type specifics, see our guides to nurse practitioner credentialing and PMHNP credentialing.
Credentialing problems surface later as denied claims, and enrollment-based denials are among the hardest to recover because the underlying issue must be corrected before any appeal works one reason they come up so often in denial management reviews.
CAQH ProView is an online database that most commercial health plans use to collect and verify provider credentialing information. Providers complete one profile covering licensure, education, work history, malpractice, and practice locations, authorize payers to access it, and re-attest every 120 days. It is free for providers.
Every 120 days, about three times per year. Providers should also re-attest immediately after any change such as a new license, address, added practice location, or malpractice renewal. Setting a reminder at 100 days provides useful buffer.
Payers stop pulling your data. Applications already in progress stall, usually with no notification, and recredentialing can fail, which may affect participating status. Most providers discover a lapsed attestation only after claims start denying, weeks later.
No. Medicare enrollment is handled through PECOS using the CMS-855I for individual enrollment and the CMS-855R for reassignment of benefits. CAQH is used primarily by commercial payers and some Medicaid managed care organizations.
Most state Medicaid programs use their own enrollment portals rather than CAQH. However, many Medicaid managed care organizations do use CAQH for credentialing after state enrollment is complete, so requirements should be confirmed per state and per plan.
A first-time profile typically takes one to three hours if all documents are gathered in advance, and CAQH review of uploaded documents usually takes a few business days. Re-attestation takes only minutes when the profile is already accurate.
Yes. CAQH supports organization-level access so a credentialing manager or administrator can maintain multiple provider profiles without sharing individual logins. Groups should also keep a central tracker of each provider’s attestation due date and document expirations.