CertifyOS Launched Shared Credentialing to Cut Payer Costs
Large insurers have joined a new program to slash the administrative burden and enrollment lag for healthcare providers.
Updated on Sept. 23, 2026 in Healthcare
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CertifyOS has introduced a National Shared Credentialing Program to consolidate provider verification, with UnitedHealthcare, Cigna Healthcare, and Centene participating. The initiative aims to eliminate duplicative administrative workflows for payers and clinicians.
Why it matters
The program addresses a persistent inefficiency where payers spend between $200 and $500 per provider every recredentialing cycle. By centralizing verification, the system seeks to reduce substantial administrative overhead and enrollment delays.
The U.S. healthcare system currently spends $2 billion annually on provider credentialing, with 75 percent of those costs potentially avoidable. The program aims to optimize a process that currently forces payers to incur $200 to $500 per provider per recredentialing cycle.
The players
CertifyOS
A health-tech firm that provides automated credentialing services to payers and providers.
UnitedHealthcare
A major national health insurance provider and division of UnitedHealth Group.
Cigna Healthcare
A global health services organization providing insurance and pharmacy benefit management.
Centene
A managed care organization focusing on government-sponsored healthcare programs.
The details
Under the new model, participating health plans share provider recredentialing rosters with CertifyOS for consolidated, NCQA-compliant primary source verification. Clinicians use a single portal and their CAQH ID to manage credentials, removing the need for redundant submissions to multiple insurers. This infrastructure shift aims to compress the typical 90 to 120-day payer enrollment lag that prevents providers from seeing patients.
Timeline
CertifyOS entered the market in 2021.
CertifyOS announced the launch of the program on September 23, 2026.
The program is scheduled to go live in the fall of 2026.
Market Landscape
This program marks a shift toward unified digital infrastructure for administrative compliance, moving away from fragmented, manual verification processes. It follows a multi-year industry trend of outsourcing credentialing to third-party tech providers to meet NCQA standards.
Operators in healthcare should monitor whether the reduced enrollment lag time actually hits the promised 90 to 120-day improvement in their own regions. The efficiency gains depend on the adoption rate of participating plans, so tracking portal integration requirements is a priority.
The takeaway
Centralizing credentialing data is becoming the new baseline for reducing administrative friction in the U.S. insurance market. Operators should audit their current credentialing cycle times now to set a benchmark against which to measure future performance gains once the program goes live.
What happens next
The program is scheduled to go live in the fall of 2026.
Further reading
For broader trends in administrative technology, see our coverage on Healthcare.
Live Poll
Should insurance companies be required to standardize provider credentialing to reduce healthcare system costs?
