Most new practices lose months of revenue to setup mistakes: credentialing filed late, payer enrollment missed, charge workflows that leak from day one. Here's the 10-item checklist we run for every startup client.
1–3: Credentialing & enrollment (start 90–120 days out)
1. CAQH profiles completed for every provider. 2. Medicare enrollment (PECOS) submitted. 3. Top 5–8 commercial payer applications filed - BCBS, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, plus your state's big Medicaid MCOs.
4–5: Systems
4. EHR/practice management system selected and configured for your specialty's templates. 5. Clearinghouse enrolled and ERA/EFT set up so payments post electronically from day one.
6–7: Workflows
6. Eligibility and benefits verification process defined - who checks, when, and what happens on a failure. 7. Prior authorization workflow tied to the scheduling template.
8–10: Money
8. Fee schedule built and payer contracts compared against it. 9. Patient payment policy written (copays at time of service, card on file). 10. A billing owner named - in-house, outsourced, or hybrid - before the first patient walks in.
The shortcut
We've run this checklist for startup practices across the country. Our startup setup package handles credentialing, enrollment, system configuration and billing workflows end to end - so your first claims go out clean and revenue starts on schedule instead of six months late.