How long on average does it take to credential a provider in 2026?

Industry surveys show benchmark averages ranging from 30-90 days, but real-world delays often stretch to 120 or more days; in some cases, for independent providers facing holdout payers, credentialing takes more than a year

A nurse practitioner (NP) left the hospital system she was working for to open her own clinic in a small rural town. She’s an experienced provider who has been practicing medicine for more than 25 years and holds a doctorate degree in nursing. 

She knew opening a clinic would be challenging but was unprepared for the effort it would take to get credentialed from payers. Most payers credentialed her in 3-6 months; however, one was a holdout. It took more than a year to get credentialed, and unfortunately, most of the 600 patients who followed her to her clinic used that payer. 

It’s not just a matter of her being unable to invoice and get paid for services, but it also affects patients. She’s unable to provide care for those insured by the hold-out payer until the payer completes their part of the credentialing process. It took more than a year for the credentials to be certified by that payer.

It’s not just rural healthcare providers that are impacted. One endocrine specialist, a medical doctor in a major metropolitan area, learned his practice group was closing its doors because the owner was retiring. He, too, decided to go out on his own and open an independent clinic. 

Nothing changed except for the fact that he moved his office address and became self-employed. Most payers credentialed him in a few months, but here again, there was a holdout. One payer took more than a year and still hadn’t credentialed him. 

That had a direct impact on one of his patients, who saw him for years when he worked for a practice group. Then, when he moved offices, that patient had to pay out of pocket for each visit while waiting for credentials. Those credentials never came, and the patient, who was unwilling to wait any longer, moved their care to a different doctor.

This is important because rural areas have lost 2,500 independent physicians during a five-year period from 2019 to 2024. While there are many reasons this is happening, chances are credentialing delays are part of the administrative headache that contributes to this downward trend.

4 studies provide average healthcare credentialing benchmarks  

Both of these anecdotes are true stories as told by our team’s first-hand experiences. That’s an important point to keep in mind when considering the benchmarks for how long, on average, it takes to obtain fully credentialed providers. By definition, some providers are going to take longer to finish credentialing, and others will be done faster. 

Below are four studies that benchmark how long, on average, it takes a healthcare facility to credential its providers. 

1. Medallion survey reports credentialing takes about 90 days on average

Medallion polled 581 healthcare operations staff in September and October 2025 for its 2026 State of Payer Enrollment and Medical Credentialing report. 

The survey breaks credentialing into steps, such as collecting data and verifying credentials, and asks respondents how long each step takes. Based on the answers, the report concludes, credentialing takes “90+ days for the entire process.” 

The survey also asked which steps were the biggest “pain points” that cause delays:

• 18% said manual application processes;
• 17% said tracking application statuses;
• 16% said understanding payer requirements;
• 16% said gather provider data;
• 16% said payer follow-up and back-and-forth;
• 12% said resubmissions; and
• 5% said delays.

About one in four respondents say their credentialing applications are denied 25% of the time. Since delays sideline providers for “two to three months before they can begin seeing patients,” the study calculates that “1 in 5 hospitals report losing more than $1M annually due to credentialing delays.” 

2. nCred says credentialing takes 64 days on average

National Credentialing Solutions (nCred) reported that credentialing applications their company process on behalf of providers took an average of 64 days to complete. The company calculated the average based on a sample of 1,000 insurance credentialing applications.

The fastest time to complete the process was 21 days. By contrast, the longest time to complete credentialing was 201 days. nCred advises clients to “assume the process will take anywhere from 90-120 days for each plan application that you submit.”

The company also looked at Medicare credentials. A review of 500 applications found Medicare approved providers in an average of 41 days. “The quickest turnaround was 11 days (Massachusetts – NGS) and the slowest turnaround was 86 days (Georgia – Cahaba).”

It’s reasonable to believe if Medicare can get credentialling done in 41 days, then private insurance companies should be able to match that turnaround time. 

3. Atlas Systems says credentialing can take 60 to 180 days

“Credentialing can take 60 to 180 days, with 90 to 120 days (3-4 months) being a common timeframe,” according to a blog post by Atlas Systems. The timing varies based on the efficiency of internal processes and external requirements, such as “specific payer requirements.” 

Atlas also does well to break out average credentialing times by the type of credentialing being sought: 

• Initial credentialing takes 60 to 180 days;
• Recredentialing takes 60 to 120 days;
• Hospitals take 60 to 120 days;
• Telehealth companies take 15 to 45 days;
• Medicaid takes 45 to 90 days;
• Medicare takes 60 to 90 days; and
• Payers take 90 to 120 days.

Citing other credentialing studies, the company says credentialing delays cost healthcare organizations an average of $122,144 during the waiting period.

4. Intelliworx survey finds credentialing takes between 30 and 60 days

More than 8 in 10 respondents (84%) said credentialing takes between 30 and 60 days to complete. That’s according to a poll we conducted of 214 human resources, operations, and finance professionals working for U.S. healthcare organizations. The survey was conducted in December 2025 and is the most recent poll of which we are aware.

The question posed was, “After a new provider accepts a job offer, how long does it take your organization to fully onboard and credential a new provider on average?”

And here’s how the answers stacked up: 

• 43% said credentialing a new provider takes less than 30 days; 
• 41% said credentialing a new provider takes 30–60 days; 
• 10% said credentialing a new provider takes 60–90 days; 
• 3% said credentialing a new provider takes 90–120 days; 
• 2% said credentialing a new provider takes 120–150 days; and 
• 0.5% said credentialing a new provider takes more than 150 days

The financial impact of waiting for credentialing is costly. Some 43% of respondents said their organization experiences $50,000 or more in lost monthly billings due to credentialing issues. Another 25% say lost billings add up to $100,000 every month or more. Finally, more than one in 10 reported lost billings in excess of $200,000 per month. 

This cost is one of the primary reasons we added credentialing data to our rural healthcare recruiting platform. This helps recruiters to understand the credential status and eligibility for employment before starting to engage potential providers for hiring.

Improving the average credentialing time is possible

Many of the studies cited above ask about the barriers to streamlining the administration of credentials. The findings point to ways healthcare employers can improve their internal processes and use technology to accelerate completion. 

Yet payers also have a role to play. One rural healthcare insurance provider, Sunflower Health in Kansas, did just that after one of its annual provider satisfaction surveys. The company noted the following in a news announcement:

“We heard your feedback that credentialing and contracting were taking too long. In 2024, the average time to complete the process was 202 days. We redesigned the entire end-to-end process, from your initial request to join our network through credentialing, contracting, and loading your details into our system. 

The result? The average completion time has dropped to just 58 days in 2025! This improvement means you can start serving our members faster and with less administrative burden. Thank you for your partnership and for sharing feedback that helped drive this change.”

That’s great work by Sunflower Health, and in a state that is very rural. Certainly, healthcare organizations have room for improvement, but it’s clear the payer has a role to play as well. 

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