The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has revised its time requirements for some of the credentialing and recredentialing elements. In the past, a therapist’s application with any NCQA accredited/affiliated organization was only valid for 120 days. Recent changes have extended that validation period to 305 days, providing a considerable increase in provider compliance and turn around time.

“PREFERRED’s network providers have always been very responsive to requests for updated documents necessary for meeting quality standards” states PREFERRED’s Credentialing Coordinator, Vicki Salak. “Periodically, a therapist’s state licensing board or malpractice carrier will be delayed in getting the most recent information to them. This sometimes causes a glitch in the credentialing or recredentialing process which is beyond their control. The more generous time frames established recently by NCQA will relieve some of the disruption of the credentialing and recredentialing processes which sometimes occur due to these circumstances.”

Among the new changes from NCQA:
• Work history for initial credentialing is now good for 305 days instead of 120 days.
• Application and Attestation is now good for 305 days instead of 120 days.
• Sealed Transcripts are acceptable verification for education.

To learn more, go to: www.ncqa.org.