Credentialing 101
The complete medical credentialing guide
What every clinician should know about PSV, privileging, CAQH, and state licensing.
Medical credentialing is the process hospitals, payers, and staffing agencies use to verify your qualifications before you can practice. This guide explains what actually happens behind the scenes, how long it takes, what documents you'll need, and the most common reasons applications stall.
Primary source verification explained
PSV is how credentialing teams confirm your degrees, licenses, and training directly with the issuing authority. Learn who does it, why it matters, and how to speed it up.
Realistic timeline expectations
Credentialing typically takes 60 to 120 days for a new hospital or payer. Understand the phases — application, verification, committee review — so you can plan assignments around them.
The complete document checklist
From medical school diploma to ACLS card, from malpractice claims history to CME certificates: everything a credentialing team will ask for, in one list.
Common reasons applications stall
Gaps in work history, missing case logs, expired certifications, unresolved malpractice claims, and unreturned verification requests are the five most common delays. Here's how to avoid each.
Once you understand how credentialing works, it stops being a black box. Vesta is built so you can keep everything a credentialing team asks for in one living record — updated as your career moves forward, ready whenever you need it.