CertifyOS, a provider data infrastructure company, launched a National Shared Credentialing Program on Thursday to streamline the provider verification and credentialing process. UnitedHealthcare, Cigna and Centene have joined as initial participants.

New York City-based CertifyOS serves health plans and digital health companies and is working to streamline access to provider data, whether that’s for provider directories or medical claims. Its National Shared Credentialing Program establishes a “centralized credentialing home” where providers can submit their information through one portal for credentialing with multiple participating payers, rather than submitting their information separately to each payer. CertifyOS administers the credentialing process and performs primary-source verification at NCQA and Medicaid standards.

“It was launched to eliminate massive administrative redundancies for both health plans and providers,” said Nick Helfrich, CertifyOS chief commercial officer, in an email. “Today providers go to individual portals and process for each health plan they want to work with. This centralizes that workflow under one system, drastically reduces provider burnout and network friction, accelerates time-to-network onboarding, and provides a trusted, single source of truth for provider data across the healthcare system.” 

The program launches this fall and operates on a per provider per year subscription model.

Currently, the credentialing process is repetitive and costly, with the U.S. spending $2 billion a year on verifying provider credentials, according to CertifyOS. Health plans spend between $200 and $500 per provider per recredentialing cycle. In addition, providers submit 17 applications per year on average, and lengthy verification processes often delay providers from joining insurance networks and seeing patients.

“Health care providers often face duplicative credentialing requirements that create unnecessary complexities. This model will help streamline that process and allow providers to spend more time focused on patient care,” said Mike Kane, senior vice president of provider data operations at UnitedHealthcare, in a statement. 

In launching the National Shared Credentialing Program, CertifyOS aims to improve net promoter scores and satisfaction by streamlining the intake process, Helfrich said. The company also hopes to accelerate onboarding timelines and cut redundant costs in healthcare, he added.

“[We want to] build a unified, compliant, multiplan credentialing model that reduces administrative costs dramatically and gives providers a single place to get credentialed versus multiple across every health plan they want to work with,” he told MedCity News.

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