republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2021a/sb-21-126.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Timely Credentialing Of Physicians By Insurers"
description: "The act requires that when a physician applies to be credentialed as a participating physician in a health insurance carrier's (carrier's) provider network, the carrier must conclude the process of credentialing the applicant within 60 calendar days after the carrier receives the applicant's completed application. A carrier must provide each applicant written or electronic notice of the outcome of the applicant's credentialing within 10 calendar days after the conclusion of the credentialing process.Within 7 calendar days after a carrier receives an application, the carrier must provide the applicant a receipt. If a carrier receives an application but fails to provide the applicant a receipt within 7 calendar days, the carrier shall consider the applicant a participating physician, effective no later than 53 calendar days following the carrier's receipt of the application.A carrier may not deny a claim for a medically necessary covered service provided to a covered person if the service:Is a covered benefit under the covered person's health coverage plan; and"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "SB 21-126"
citation: "Colorado SB 21-126 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dafna Michaelson Jenet", "Matt Soper", "Rhonda Fields"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-02-25T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-07-06T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1193881a-71f9-4728-9098-60cd1c06fe6f"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-126"
source_hash: "7da851382ed5456a12d7bf2023d15d782fb08980d6f3fc0ffa07e0b94e7c7ef5"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-co"]
---

# Colorado SB 21-126 (2021A) — Timely Credentialing Of Physicians By Insurers

The act requires that when a physician applies to be credentialed as a participating physician in a health insurance carrier's (carrier's) provider network, the carrier must conclude the process of credentialing the applicant within 60 calendar days after the carrier receives the applicant's completed application. A carrier must provide each applicant written or electronic notice of the outcome of the applicant's credentialing within 10 calendar days after the conclusion of the credentialing process.Within 7 calendar days after a carrier receives an application, the carrier must provide the applicant a receipt. If a carrier receives an application but fails to provide the applicant a receipt within 7 calendar days, the carrier shall consider the applicant a participating physician, effective no later than 53 calendar days following the carrier's receipt of the application.A carrier may not deny a claim for a medically necessary covered service provided to a covered person if the service:Is a covered benefit under the covered person's health coverage plan; and

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_sb126_h_app_002.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (04/27/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (06/11/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (02/25/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/09/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126shhs_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (04/23/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126shhssapp.pdf)
7. **Reengrossed (04/28/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126_ren.pdf)
8. **Rerevised (05/28/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126_rer.pdf)
9. **Revised (05/25/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_126_rev.pdf)
10. **Signed Act (07/06/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_126_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **25–10** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **45–17** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dafna Michaelson Jenet — primary (person)
- Matt Soper — primary (person)
- Rhonda Fields — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-07-06T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-11T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2021-06-11T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-06-11T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-28T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-26T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-05-25T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2021-05-24T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-18T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Health & Insurance Refer Unamended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-30T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Health & Insurance `introduction`
- **2021-04-28T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-27T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2021-04-23T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-08T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Health & Human Services Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-25T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Health & Human Services `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1193881a-71f9-4728-9098-60cd1c06fe6f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).