Source Article – 2025 Trends in Med Staff Credentialing Report | Page 3

Time is money as they say and in the world of clinician credentialing this could not be truer.  Each day of the onboarding process for a new clinician costs the operator money, whether that is because the clinician cannot see patients unless supervised… or they can’t see them at all.

In the report 2025 Trends in Medical Staff Credentialing several bottlenecks were identified in the process.  There were a couple that I found to be most interesting – the amount of time it takes for the clinician to submit their application after receipt of the application and primary source verification once the application has been received.

• Processing time of 10+ days: 61% of completed applications take longer than 10 days to be received, with 18% taking over 26 days.
• Processing time of 21+ days: 51% of received applications require more than 21 days to complete the primary source verification process.

That’s one month right there…. This can lead to missed start dates, scheduling conflicts to account for a supervising clinician, and potential lost revenue paying clinicians that are unable to begin seeing patients.

Some ideas getting prompt application submissions:

• Pre-populate as much information as you can into the online application.
• Create a visual timeline showing deadlines for submission, payer submission windows and estimated approval dates.
• Provide assistance in the process – 48% of respondents indicated they provides services to support clinicians with the process.  This reduces submission times and shows your commitment to your clinician staff.
• Create automatic e-reminders showing what you documents/information that is still missing.
• Break the process into more manageable phases – Phase 1 = basic info, NPI, license, CV | Phase 2 = Malpractice, employment history, references | Phase 3 = Signatures and release forms.
• Clearly communicate expectations of submission and the impact of delays, e.g. ability to see patients and bill for services.
• Implement a clinician information management system – to collect, organize and share credentialing information.  Only 20% of respondents indicated that they have fully implemented such a system.

Some of those ideas seem obvious but sometimes the easiest and most obvious ideas are the ones that make the most change!  Check out the full report via the source link at the top.

What works for your team to streamline the credentialing process?