How Often Should You Update Your CAQH Profile

Key Takeaways 

• How often you should update your CAQH profile depends on two clocks: re-attestation every 120 days, and real-time updates whenever your information changes.  

• CAQH is now DataSpring, powered by CAQH, following a June 2026 rebrand. The portal, your login, and the 120-day cycle remain the same.  

• Illinois providers follow an 180-day re-attestation schedule instead of the standard 120 days.  

• Re-attestation is required even when nothing has changed. It’s a formal confirmation, not an update trigger.  

• A lapsed profile goes inactive, which means payers can’t pull your data, and that can quietly stall credentialing, recredentialing, and claims processing without any warning email.  

• License renewals, a new malpractice carrier, a new practice address, or added hospital privileges should all trigger an immediate CAQH update, not a wait until the next attestation window.  

• Setting internal reminders at 90 days, rather than waiting for the 120-day deadline, builds in a buffer for tracking down updated documents. 

If you’ve ever wondered how often you should update your CAQH profile, the honest answer has two parts, and most providers know only one. That’s the re-attestation that CAQH needs every 120 days, no matter what. There’s also the real-time update, which should happen whenever something happens in your work life. If you mix them up, it’s easy to think a profile is up to date when it’s really just about to be out of date. 

What Is CAQH Re-Attestation? 

The official computer sign-off is called re-attestation. You go to the CAQH Provider Data Portal, review your entire profile, and make sure all the information is correct at that moment. When you log in again, even if not a single field has changed, you still have to attest.  

Payers need this because they use your information to decide whether to credential or recredential you, and they need recent, signed proof to back it up. Without it, they can’t tell whether the information in front of them is accurate or just a picture from eight months ago. Re-attestation keeps that faith going. 

Why Keeping Your CAQH Profile Updated Matters 

An expired attestation doesn’t make a noise. In the short term, claims for payers you’re already signed up with will usually keep working. Patients are still being scheduled. When your window shuts, nothing breaks loudly.  

Under that, your profile status changes to “inactive,” and every payer that tries to get new data for credentialing, recredentialing, or a network audit hits a wall. New credentialing applications get held up. Credentialing cycles slow down. Sometimes, a provider is marked as “out-of-network” in a directory even though the organization still has a contract with them. This creates a mess that takes a lot longer to fix than the five minutes it would have taken to re-attest.  

This is more important now than it was before 2026. Payers are now required by law to check provider listing information at least once every 90 days. CAQH’s 120-day cycle helps practices stay ahead of that rule so they don’t have to rush to meet it when audited.  

With more providers on staff, group practices face higher risk. A single expired attestation in a list of fifteen providers is easy to miss until a buyer finds it during a regular audit. By then, it usually affects more than one thing at the same time, like a recredentialing file that has stopped working or a location that doesn’t match up. People who work alone often notice this sooner because they don’t have to remember anyone else’s deadlines. But the solution is the same for everyone: add a note to your calendar so you don’t have to remember. 

What Information Should Be Updated in CAQH? 

Plan for some items every 120 days. No matter where you are in the attestation cycle, update other items as soon as they change.  

If a provider opens, closes, or changes practices, update the addresses and contact details right away. When a malpractice insurance policy changes or renews, update the company information, policy number, and coverage dates right away. The most recent renewal should show up in the state license number and expiration date as soon as it is issued. Keep hospital affiliations and privileges up to date whenever a provider gains or loses privileges at a center.   

Keep your board certification status up to date, especially when it’s time to recertify. Update DEA registration information when it is renewed, as a gap in this area can slow down a payment application that is otherwise complete.  

One of the most common mistakes providers make is waiting until the next scheduled attestation to make these changes. This is because a payer that pulls data mid-cycle will see what was last entered, not what is true now. 

When Should Providers Update Their CAQH Profile? 

You can think of it as two separate alarms. The re-attestation after 120 days is a fixed date you must meet, even if nothing has changed. Any real change to your professional information will set off the event. This change should happen within days, not when you next log in.  

It’s a good idea to set a mental warning at 90 days instead of waiting for the 120-day deadline. This rule works well for both solo practitioners and group practices. That gives you 30 days to get a new license number or an updated malpractice certificate of insurance if it is still being sent when the warning goes off. Illinois providers have 180 days instead of 120, which is a little more time, but the same advice still stands: don’t wait until the last minute. 

How to Update Your CAQH Information 

Once you log in, updating is easy. Find the section that has been changed, whether it’s about practice locations, malpractice, or credentialing, and enter the new information. If CAQH asks, include supporting documents, such as a new copy of your license or a certificate of insurance.  

When you make changes, the system asks you to re-attest the parts you changed. This isn’t the same as the full 120-day cycle attestation, but it’s still needed to make the change live for participating payers. If you skip this step, the update will be saved but not verified, so payers won’t see it in what they pull.  

A central tracking system, like a shared spreadsheet or a credentialing platform, that shows each provider’s specific attestation date is helpful for organizations that oversee more than one provider. CAQH doesn’t handle this for you across providers. The business or its certification partner needs to keep everyone on track.  

The documentation is just as important as the change itself. Before a change is made to a profile, CAQH will often ask for proof, such as a scanned license, a statements page from a malpractice insurance company, or a letter from the hospital granting privileges. If you keep these documents up to date in a special folder instead of scrambling to find the most recent version right before a deadline, an update that only takes ten minutes could turn into a week of back-and-forth with an insurance company or credentialing board. 

What Happens If Your CAQH Profile Is Not Updated? 

If you miss the date for re-attestation, your page will become offline. From there, the effects slowly add up. Payers can’t get up-to-date information to make credentialing decisions, which stops new applications. Credential reviews already in progress can be stopped midstream, and the source may not even know. Claims can be delayed or denied if a payer’s system marks the service record as not checked. Some directory listings get old or disappear, which can make patients think a provider isn’t in network when they really are.  

There is no loud warning for any of this. Although CAQH sends emails before the deadline, it’s not a good idea to depend on those alone because they’re easy to miss in a crowded inbox. Also, by the time the payment side of things shows up, the profile has often been idle for weeks. 

Common CAQH Profile Mistakes to Avoid 

This is because of a few mistakes that cause delays. The biggest one is making testimony voluntary when nothing has changed. It’s needed no matter what. If you change information without signing off on it again, the changes are saved, but payers can’t see them. If you give all your login information to one person without a backup plan, only one person can fail when a deadline comes up.   

Another common gap is assuming a credentialing partner is handling re-attestation without checking. This is because not all credentialing agreements include this ongoing job by default. Multi-state groups also get stuck more often than you’d think when they miss the specific break for Illinois’s 180-day schedule. 

CAQH Updates and Insurance Credentialing 

CAQH re-attestation and provider credentialing are linked but not the same thing. Re-attestation is what you have to do to keep your CAQH profile active. It’s your promise to yourself. Payers use that information to do things like credentialing and recredentialing. Recredentialing usually happens every two to three years, which differs from CAQH’s 120-day period.  

A lost CAQH certification can stop a payer’s recredentialing process that was going well because the payer needs to see up-to-date information at a certain point in the process. If that pull happens while your profile isn’t being used, the payer either stops the review or asks for the information directly, both of which take weeks longer. It’s not only good manners to keep your CAQH up to date; it’s also a safety measure for all the credentialing relationships that depend on it.  

CAQH isn’t the only place a buyer can look for info. Some people also check CAQH information against files from state credentialing boards or the National Practitioner Data Bank. If a provider’s CAQH profile is up to date but their license update wasn’t reported, they could still run into trouble if those extra checks find something that hasn’t been synced. This is another reason real-time changes matter more than doing CAQH upkeep every four months. 

CAQH Profile Maintenance Checklist 

Keep a short list somewhere easy to see; remember the date of your last declaration, and set the next one for 90 days instead of 120. Every time you renew a malpractice insurance policy, review the details again. As soon as a renewal comes in, update the license numbers and expiration dates.   

When practice spots change, add or remove them. Make sure that your hospital affiliations match your current privileges. Keep up-to-date copies of all the documents CAQH might ask for in a digital folder so you won’t have to rush to find anything. And if a credentialing partner does this for you, make sure they write down exactly what’s included, because this is where assumptions can go wrong. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

How often should you update your CAQH profile? 

You should re-attest every 120 days, or 180 days in Illinois, and update any changes right away. 

Is CAQH now called DataSpring? 

Yes. In June 2026, CAQH changed its name to DataSpring, powered by CAQH. You can still log in to the Provider Data Portal, and the 120-day schedule has not changed. 

What happens if I miss my CAQH re-attestation deadline? 

Your profile stops being used, which can slow down credentialing, recredentialing, and sometimes claims processing, and there’s usually no clear reason for this. 

Do I need to re-attest even if nothing has changed? 

Yes, re-attestation keeps the profile up to date, even if nothing has changed since the last run. 

Can a credentialing partner manage CAQH re-attestation for me? 

Yes. Many credentialing support services keep track of this and do it for providers, but it’s still a good idea to make sure it’s included. 

Final Thoughts 

How often should you change your CAQH profile? This question can be broken down into two habits that you should start. Without fail, re-attest every 120 days, and update information as soon as it changes rather than waiting until the next planned login. The DataSpring rebrand only changed the portal name, not the steps needed to keep a profile active. When providers and practices put a 90-day internal note on their calendar, they usually don’t have to deal with the quiet problems that build over time when a profile isn’t updated. These problems include delayed applications, recredentialing put on hold, and claims held for no clear reason.  

If tracking the dates different providers attest to your credentials has become a side job, CAQH credentialing support can do it for you and ensure all your profiles are up to date before a deadline.