April 9, 2026 · 5 min read
Plan for 90 to 120 days from application to approval for most commercial payers in California, and start earlier than feels necessary.
CAQH should be complete and attested before anything else is submitted. An incomplete CAQH profile is the most common reason applications stall silently.
Medicare enrollment through PECOS and Medi-Cal through PAVE run on separate timelines, and neither will accept a retroactive start date generously.
Track every application weekly. Payers rarely notify you of a missing document — they simply stop working the file until someone calls.