The 2026 State of Payer Enrollment and Credentialing for Hospitals and Health Systems

Hospitals and health systems are operating under the toughest conditions in decades. Structural risks, tightening margins, and increasing closures are reshaping priorities. Here’s what leaders should watch to build faster, more predictable, and more sustainable processes.

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I feel like payer enrollment needs to have more automated AI integration. I work for a large hospital and we are constantly opening new locations and hiring new providers, but not hiring any more employees for enrollment coordinators and credentialing coordinators. Manually entering every application is way too time consuming."

Jessica B.
Enrollment Coordinator at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

The hidden breakdowns slowing hospital revenue and operations in 2026

How much revenue do credentialing delays cost hospitals and health systems?

Among hospitals able to quantify the impact, 1 in 5 lose more than $1M annually due to credentialing delays. Most teams keep credentialing fully in-house (56%) and rely on three to four or more tools to complete a single file, creating fragmented workflows that drive slowdowns and sustained revenue leakage.

How are staffing shortages impacting credentialing and enrollment performance?

41% of hospitals report high turnover or burnout across clinical and administrative roles, and many face direct gaps in credentialing and enrollment: 18% have open roles, and 14% struggle to hire experienced back-office administrators. Chronic staffing strain limits capacity and increases the risk of bottlenecks across the onboarding process.

Why do credentialing timelines vary so widely across hospitals?

Nearly half of hospitals (46%) say it takes more than 10 days just to move a provider from initial data collection to committee review. Time-intensive steps like PSV and file preparation often extend into multi-week cycles, creating unpredictable timelines that make it difficult to plan ahead or set clear expectations with providers.

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