How do I set up billing for a new practice?

In order: form the entity and get an EIN, get your NPIs, build and attest CAQH, credential with each payer, connect a clearinghouse, then file your first claim. Each step depends on the one before it, so skipping ahead just means redoing it.

Most of it moves fast. Payer credentialing is the exception, usually 90 to 180 days per plan, and it sets your whole timeline. Figure three to six months from opening the doors to steady deposits.

Two things trip people up. The NPI: you need a Type 1 for yourself and a Type 2 for the practice, and a claim uses both, the practice as the biller and you as the provider. Get that wrong and it rejects. And timing: enrolling before your CAQH is attested, or seeing insured patients before your effective date, just makes denials while the filing clock runs down.

You form the entity and get the NPIs. Altair takes it from there. The AI, backed by our expert in-house billers, builds and re-attests CAQH, files and drives enrollment with Medicare, Medicaid, and each commercial payer, then runs the billing behind it. One team owns credentialing through cash, so claims go out on the right dates instead of stacking up in denials, and you can watch it happen.

Talk to us before you open, and the billing is handled from day one.

Common questions

Sources: CMS NPI Fact Sheet, CMS-855 forms, 42 CFR 424.44, CAQH ProView guidance.