The Credentialing Advantage Certification Program involves streamlined steps. Individual site visits are kept to a minimum to ensure the product remains cost effective and efficient. Annual re-certification assures your clients of your commitment to ongoing quality service.

1. Complete the application for certification or re-certification and submit with non-refundable application fee to RCS Services (independent third party auditing firm).
2. The contact person specified by the applicant agency will receive Self-Audit materials and User’s Guide via email, and will distribute the materials to all offices

3. The applicant agency will review resources provided by Credentialing Advantage and prepare for required audits:
   
   • Initial certification (year one) requires self-audits at 100% of all offices, an on-site audit at corporate location, and on-site audits at 20% of all offices not to exceed 30 evaluations.
   • Year two renewal certification requires self-audits at 100% of all offices only.
   • Year three renewal certification requires self-audits at 100% of all offices, an on-site audit at corporate location, and on-site audits at 10% of all offices not to exceed 15 locations.
   • Subsequent year renewals repeat years two and three.
   
   
4. Branch offices complete the self-audit for their location, and submit it, with roster of licensed employees, to RCS Services, with an applicable processing fee.
   
   • Self-audits require review of 10-20% of licensed employee files based upon the guidelines offered by Credentialing Advantage resource materials.
   
   
5. RCS Services will conduct a review of all submitted self-audits, ensuring completeness and accuracy, and will conduct verification of submitted information as it deems necessary to ensure statistical accuracy and program integrity. Each self-audit will be scored on a standard, uniform scale by RCS Services.
6. When all agency self-audits are received and scored, RCS Services will randomly select a sampling of offices for field auditing. Arrangements will be made to schedule appointments for these field audits.
7. Upon completion of all self audits and field audits, RCS will issue a report of the agency’s scores, including recommendations for score improvement that might have been identified during the process.

8. Agencies achieving successful certification will receive the Credentialing Advantage Certified Agency Certificate. The names of certified agencies will be displayed on the Credentialing Advantage website.