Resources / Credentialed but no patients
In Network as a Therapist but No Referrals? Start Here
Enrollments are billed 50% at the start and 50% at submission; everything else 100% at the start.
Therapists are the providers most likely to be credentialed and still get no referrals from a plan. The reason is usually structural: behavioral health runs through separate networks and separate directories, and clients search those directories with filters (specialty, telehealth, accepting new clients) that silently hide incomplete listings.
Behavioral Health Is Often a Separate Network
Many plans hand behavioral health to a separate company or division: UnitedHealthcare to Optum Behavioral Health, Cigna to Evernorth Behavioral Health, and Anthem plans to Carelon Behavioral Health. Members looking for a therapist search that behavioral network's directory. A clinician credentialed only with the medical side, or with the behavioral network in a different state, will not show up where clients look.
Telehealth and Location Listings
Directories are searched by location. A telehealth-only practice still needs a listed service address in each state where it is licensed and contracted, and the telehealth flag turned on, or clients searching near home will not see it. If you moved to telehealth after credentialing, your listing may still show an old office or nothing at all.
Specialty and Population Filters
Clients filter by issue (anxiety, trauma, couples), age group, language and accepting new clients. These fields usually come from your CAQH profile and the network's own profile tools. A bare listing with no specialties or populations is technically present and practically invisible. Fill them in where the network allows it, and re-attest CAQH so the data flows through.
Paid Directories Are a Different Channel
Psychology Today and similar sites are paid marketing directories you subscribe to; listing your insurance there helps clients who already know their plan, but it does not place you in the insurer's directory. Both matter, and clients often check one against the other, so the plans you list should match your actual contracts.
Directory Accuracy Is the Plan's Job Too
Under the No Surprises Act plans must verify directory information at least every 90 days and update it within 2 business days of receiving a change (42 U.S.C. 300gg-115). If you sent a correction and it has not appeared, ask the network for written confirmation of the update date.
What We Do
Our Directory and Network Checkup ($150) checks which behavioral networks you are in for each plan, how your listing appears in each directory, your CAQH profile and NPI taxonomy, and sends you the list of fixes with flat prices.
Not sure which applies? Try the free 2-minute checker, or read the full list of causes in in network but no patients.
Questions
Why can clients not find me in my insurance directory?
Most often because you are credentialed with the medical network but clients search the plan's behavioral health network, your listing has no service address for telehealth, or you are marked not accepting new clients.
Does Psychology Today count as being listed by my insurance?
No. It is a paid directory you control. Insurer directories are separate and are built from your network enrollment and CAQH data.
How fast does a plan have to fix my directory listing?
Federal law requires plans to update directory information within 2 business days of receiving a change and to verify it at least every 90 days.
Should I re-attest CAQH even if nothing changed?
Yes. Plans rely on the attestation date; an expired attestation can stall recredentialing and directory updates even when your data is unchanged.
Answers cover PECS services, prices and process. For legal, tax or clinical questions please consult a professional.
Sources: 42 U.S.C. 300gg-115 (provider directories). Updated October 8, 2026.