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Kearny Street Management
Provider Network Development
Deep Dive · Page 1 of 5
Provider Network Development

Networks that pass,
launch, and hold.

A complete look at how Kearny Street Management helps health plans, IPAs, and risk-bearing organizations build, fix, and run provider networks — and hands them back running independently.

The problem

Builds stall in the seams between strategy, contracting, credentialing, and operations.

The approach

One accountable team that owns the whole network, not a slice of it.

The outcome

On-time launches, adequacy met the first time, and a network your team can run.

Executive summary

Standing up a provider network is where good healthcare strategy most often breaks. The plan is sound; the execution fragments across too many hands. This brief lays out why that happens, what it costs, and how a single team that owns strategy, contracting, credentialing, and operations — end to end — turns a high-risk build into a predictable one. It closes with the way we work and how to start.

770.329.9823 dsmith@ksmnetwork.com kearnystreet.com
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Kearny Street Management
Provider Network Development
Deep Dive · Page 2 of 5
The problem

Strategy is easy. The build is where it breaks.

Almost every organization can produce a network strategy. Far fewer can turn that strategy into signed contracts, verified providers, and an accurate directory before the filing window closes. Three failure patterns show up again and again.

The week-six wall

The kickoff energy fades, the easy contracts are signed, and what remains is the hard middle — the health systems that negotiate slowly, the specialties with thin supply, the credentialing backlog. Progress goes quiet exactly when the deadline gets loud.

Adequacy is a moving target

Time-and-distance standards, minimum provider counts, and appointment-availability rules don't hold still, and neither do your providers. A network that was adequate at filing can fail after a single group departure. Without someone watching it continuously, you find out from a regulator or a member complaint.

The leaky handoffs

Strategy hands to contracting, contracting hands to credentialing, credentialing hands to operations — and every handoff loses information. A provider signs but never makes it into the directory. A rate is agreed but loaded wrong. The gaps between functions are where builds actually fail.

What it costs

The price of a stalled build is rarely a line item. It’s a market entry pushed a full year. It’s an access complaint that invites regulatory scrutiny. It’s the board asking why the network isn’t ready — and a leadership team spending its credibility to explain a problem that was preventable.

770.329.9823 dsmith@ksmnetwork.com kearnystreet.com
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Kearny Street Management
Provider Network Development
Deep Dive · Page 3 of 5
The solution

One team that owns the whole network.

Because the failures live in the seams, the fix is to remove the seams. We hold all four network functions under one accountable team — so a decision in strategy is already understood in contracting, and a signature in contracting is already moving through credentialing.

Network Strategy & Adequacy

We map where your members live against CMS and state time-and-distance standards, find every gap before a regulator does, and build the recruitment list that closes it — so you pass adequacy on the first submission and stay adequate after normal attrition.

Provider Contracting

Outreach, rate conversations, redlines, and closing — with defensible language and a rate posture that survives a competitive market. We move agreements from 'interested' to countersigned instead of parked in an inbox.

Credentialing & Compliance

Primary-source verification, CAQH hygiene, and committee-ready files run as a real critical path — so a provider who signs in March is payable at go-live, not months later.

Network Operations

Directory accuracy, provider-data operations, and the weekly cadence that keeps a network adequate after launch. Then we document it and hand it back, so the rhythm lives inside your team.

Credentialing as a standalone service. When the build is fine but credentialing is the bottleneck, we take just that — primary-source verification and committee-ready files, scoped and priced on its own — and get your providers payable.

770.329.9823 dsmith@ksmnetwork.com kearnystreet.com
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Kearny Street Management
Provider Network Development
Deep Dive · Page 4 of 5
How we work

Listen, map, execute.

Our method is deliberately plain: we listen to the opportunity, map a plan, and execute it — with named owners, real dates, and a weekly cadence you can see. Simple solutions to complex problems.

1
Diagnose

A focused two-week read of your network, gaps, and the honest path to adequacy — a clear picture before any long commitment.

2
Build

Contracting and credentialing run in parallel against a live tracker, with a weekly cadence so the critical path never goes dark.

3
Operate & hand back

We take it to go-live, prove adequacy, document the operating rhythm, and hand it back so your team runs it with confidence.

Why our judgment holds up

We’ve worked both sides of the table — payer and provider — for two decades. That means we can read a contract from the health system’s chair and the plan’s chair at the same time, anticipate where a negotiation stalls, and price a deal that both parties will actually sign. When a build needs specialized hands, we bring in experienced healthcare professionals from our network, scoped to the work.

Proof in practice

An independent orthopedic ASC wanted to launch a total-joints line, but it only pencils out with the right national payer relationship and an implant-purchasing arrangement. We led the strategy, negotiated the contracting, and stood up the operational workflow. The line went live on schedule — adequate, credentialed, and payable from day one — and the team kept running it after we stepped out.

770.329.9823 dsmith@ksmnetwork.com kearnystreet.com
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Kearny Street Management
Provider Network Development
Deep Dive · Page 5 of 5
What winning looks like

A network you stop worrying about.

On-time market launches, with no last-minute scramble
Adequacy met at first submission — and monitored after
Clean, defensible contracts and credentialing files
An accurate provider directory members can trust
A documented operating cadence, not tribal knowledge
A network your team can run confidently without us
Common questions
Do we have to hand you the whole network?

No. Many engagements start with a single bottleneck — often credentialing or a stalled contracting effort. The Diagnostic is designed to scope exactly what you need.

What if a build is already underway and stuck?

That's a common starting point. We inherit stalled builds, find where the critical path went dark, and get it moving again without restarting from zero.

What happens when you leave?

The hand-back is part of the plan from day one. You keep the trackers, the cadence, and a network your team already knows how to run.

Start with a Diagnostic.

Two weeks to a clear, honest read on your network and the path to adequacy — before any long commitment. Then we build.

Talk to our team
770.329.9823
dsmith@ksmnetwork.com
kearnystreet.com