VAs are excellent at a hundred practice tasks, and at $8–$25/hour they look like the budget answer for credentialing too. Here's an honest look at where that works, where it quietly fails, and what failure costs.
A capable VA at $15/hour spending 30 hours on your credentialing costs about $450 — cheaper than any service, on paper. The catch is that the 30 hours assumes they already know CAQH's quirks, PECOS's failure modes, your state's workers comp process, and chiropractic-specific taxonomy and CPT context (98940–98943). A generalist learning on your file takes longer — and the expensive part isn't their hours, it's the calendar time and errors while they learn.
A rejected application doesn't cost $15/hour. It costs a 60–120 day payer clock restarting — at roughly $11,000/month of unbillable insurance revenue while you wait.
| Generalist VA | ChiroEnroll | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | ~$300–800 in hours (if it goes well) | $799–$1,297 flat, published |
| Chiropractic-specific knowledge | Learning on your file | It's all we do — DC taxonomy, workers comp boards, PI panels |
| Accountability for errors | You still own every mistake | Our error = our free resubmission; 48h or refund |
| Your data exposure | SSN, DEA, banking with an individual you vet yourself | Encrypted intake, access-controlled storage, no data resale |
| Continuity | VA leaves = knowledge leaves | Process and dashboard persist |
| Status visibility | Whatever they write up | Real-time dashboard, every payer |
If you already employ a great VA who has done chiropractic credentialing before — actual payer applications, not just admin — keep them and don't look back. A known-good person beats any service. The hybrid also works: we handle the credentialing, your VA handles everything else. And for ongoing upkeep, compare their hours honestly against Panel Protection at $299/month.
Ask any VA candidate: "What happens if Medicare rejects the application?" If the answer is a plan — resubmission steps, PECOS specifics, timeline math — hire them. If the answer is a pause, the $450 option was never really $450.
Flat fee on the page, submitted in 48 hours or you don't pay, chiropractic only. Your VA will thank you for taking the worst task off their plate too.