For doulas in Los Angeles County

How to get contracted with L.A. Care as a doula

L.A. Care is the largest Medi-Cal plan in Los Angeles County, and to be paid for its members you need a contract with it, separate from your Medi-Cal enrollment. L.A. Care publishes its doula process in a reference guide; here it is in order, with the documents, contacts and timelines from L.A. Care’s own material.

Updated October 5, 2026

Counties
Los Angeles
Before you apply
Enrolled with Medi-Cal through DHCS (L.A. Care asks for your approval letter)
First step
Letter of Interest form on lacare.org (Join Our Network)
How long
Applications reviewed quarterly; credentialing typically 30–90 days; L.A. Care says allow at least 3 months
Doula contact
doulabenefit@lacare.org
Payer ID
LACAR

  1. Enroll with Medi-Cal first

    L.A. Care’s guide is direct about the order: before you can contract with L.A. Care, you must be enrolled as a Medi-Cal provider through DHCS. Your DHCS approval letter is one of the credentialing documents. L.A. Care also notes its credentialing is “separate and distinct from PAVE enrollment”, so being approved in PAVE doesn’t make you an L.A. Care provider on its own.

    The upside: once you’re enrolled with Medi-Cal, L.A. Care doesn’t ask you to send your CPR certification, HIPAA training, proof of experience or three testimonial letters again. Your Medi-Cal enrollment covers them.

    Not enrolled yet? See how to become a Medi-Cal doula for the NPI and PAVE steps.

  2. Send L.A. Care a Letter of Interest

    Everything starts with a short online form. On L.A. Care’s Join Our Network page (For Providers → Join Our Network), find Doula Services and click Letter of Interest Form. L.A. Care’s guide describes the same form under the Ancillary section, because the plan classes doulas as ancillary providers. You’ll give basic contact and business details.

    No decision is made at this stage; it just puts you in the queue. The Join Our Network page says doula applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis, so a form sent just after a review cycle can wait a while before anyone calls.

    Questions before or after you submit go to doulabenefit@lacare.org, the doula contracting address L.A. Care gives in its guide and in DHCS’s plan contact list.

  3. Send your credentialing documents, all at once

    After your Letter of Interest, an L.A. Care Contracting Manager reaches out with training materials and a document request. Which application you fill in depends on how you’ll contract:

    Individual doula (Type 1 NPI)Doula organization (Type 2 NPI)
    California Participating Ancillary Application (CPAA)HDO (Health Delivery Organization) Credentialing Application
    Addendums A and BCurrent business license, tax certificate and permits for each city or county you work in
    Type 1 NPIType 2 NPI
    Resume or CVCurrent professional or malpractice insurance certificate
    5-year work history (experience pathway only)A list of every employed, contracted or subcontracted doula who will serve L.A. Care members
    Current liability insurance, or the signed liability waiver attestationDHCS Medi-Cal enrollment approval letter
    Doula Emergency Plan AttestationCurrent W-9, signed and dated
    Current W-9, signed and dated
    DHCS Medi-Cal enrollment approval letter

    Credentialing typically takes 30 to 90 days. L.A. Care asks you to send every document together; a missing item is the usual cause of delay. Doula groups and community organizations follow the same process as individual doulas, with the HDO application instead of the CPAA.

  4. Sign the contract (sometimes a Letter of Agreement first)

    Contracting runs alongside credentialing, in L.A. Care’s words, in four stages:

    1. 1.Your Letter of Interest goes in, and the Contracting Manager sends training tools and asks for documents.
    2. 2.Your documents go to the Credentialing Department. If needed, L.A. Care may offer a Letter of Agreement (LOA) at this point: a temporary agreement while credentialing finishes.
    3. 3.Once credentialing is approved, the Contracting Manager sends the final contract.
    4. 4.When you and L.A. Care have both signed, the contract is “fully executed”: you’re in the network and can see members and submit claims.

    Claims start once the agreement is signed, so don’t bill L.A. Care for visits before then. L.A. Care’s provider webinar puts the whole process at at least three months.

  5. Set up billing: W-9, portal and payer ID LACAR

    • W-9: L.A. Care won’t process any claim without a current W-9 on file; it also sets the address your payments and 1099 go to. Email it to ProviderW9@lacare.org.
    • Electronic claims: send to payer ID LACAR. L.A. Care lists Office Ally as a free option and also accepts claims through other clearinghouses.
    • Provider Portal: available once you’re fully contracted, for claim status and more. Request access at ProviderRelations@lacare.org.
    • Codes and rules: L.A. Care follows Medi-Cal billing guidelines unless your contract says otherwise, and expects you to keep up with Medi-Cal changes. Our Medi-Cal doula billing cheat sheet has the codes, diagnosis codes and XP modifier on one page.

    Check which plan the member is actually enrolled in before you bill. Some L.A. Care members belong to its Plan Partners, Anthem Blue Cross or Blue Shield Promise, and their claims go to that plan, not to L.A. Care.

  6. Get found by members, and know how recommendations work

    L.A. Care sends members to contracted doulas three ways:

    • Provider Directory: members choose L.A. Care Medi-Cal, open the Facility tab, and pick Facility Type “Ancillary Organization” and Specialty “Doula”. Make sure your listing is right once you’re contracted.
    • Member Services: members can self-refer at 1-888-839-9909 (TTY 711).
    • Their provider: clinicians can call L.A. Care’s Provider Service Unit at 1-866-522-2736 to recommend doula services.

    The statewide standing order covers the initial package (an initial visit, up to eight more visits, labor and delivery or pregnancy-loss support, and two extended postpartum visits). A second round of up to nine postpartum visits needs a signed recommendation from a licensed provider, on L.A. Care’s recommendation form (Forms and Manuals → Health Education Forms) or the DHCS form. A standing order can’t be used for those.

    Contracted doulas also get a Program Manager (monthly Doula Office Hours or one-on-one meetings) and a Contracting Manager for agreement and claim issues.

  7. Fix denials with a corrected claim or a dispute

    • Billing mistake (a missing code, say): send a corrected claim within 365 days of the denial. L.A. Care asks you not to resubmit the same claim unchanged.
    • Underpaid or wrongly denied: file a Provider Dispute Resolution (PDR) form (Forms and Manuals → Claims Forms) to L.A. Care Claims Department, Appeals and PDR Unit, P.O. Box 811610, Los Angeles, CA 90081, or fax 213-438-5057, with supporting documents. L.A. Care acknowledges within 15 working days by mail or 2 by fax, and resolves within 45 working days.
    • Don’t file a PDR and an Intake Analysis request for the same issue at the same time.
    • Check whether a claim arrived: Provider Portal, or 1-866-522-2736 (option 1, then Claims, then option 3).

    For what the denial codes themselves mean, see the claim rules that cause most rejections.

L.A. Care’s Plan Partners: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Promise

Los Angeles County uses California’s Two-Plan Model. L.A. Care is the local public plan, and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California Promise are its Plan Partners. A member enrolled through a Plan Partner is that plan’s responsibility: it handles their care coordination and claims, with its own directory, process and contacts. So:

  • An L.A. Care contract covers members enrolled directly with L.A. Care.
  • To serve Plan Partner members, contract with that plan too, and send their claims there. DHCS lists the doula contacts as cadoulaprogram@anthem.com (Anthem Blue Cross Partnership Plan) and bscpromisedoula@blueshieldca.com (Blue Shield Promise).
  • Run an eligibility check before the first visit: it tells you which plan the member is actually in.

Separately from L.A. Care and its Plan Partners, Health Net is the county’s other Medi-Cal plan under the Two-Plan Model, with its own doula application. See the guides for Anthem, Blue Shield Promise and Health Net.

How many L.A. Care members use doulas

Few, so far. DHCS’s July 2025 report on the doula benefit counted 126 L.A. Care members who used doula services between January 2023 and June 2024, out of about 83,000 pregnant and birthing members: 1.5 per 1,000, against 7.7 at Partnership HealthPlan and 6.0 at Inland Empire Health Plan in the same report.

L.A. Care contacts for doulas

Doula contracting and onboarding
doulabenefit@lacare.org
Doula billing, claims and payment (per DHCS)
kschlater@lacare.org
Provider Portal access and provider questions
ProviderRelations@lacare.org
W-9 forms
ProviderW9@lacare.org
Provider line (eligibility and claims: option 1 › Claims › option 3)
1-866-522-2736
Member Services (for your clients)
1-888-839-9909

Stuck with a plan? DHCS takes questions about plan contracting at DoulaBenefit@dhcs.ca.gov.

Sources

All sources checked October 5, 2026.

Common questions

Do I need to be enrolled with Medi-Cal before contracting with L.A. Care?
Yes. L.A. Care requires doulas to be enrolled as Medi-Cal providers through DHCS first and asks for the DHCS enrollment approval letter during credentialing. In return, it doesn’t ask you to resend your CPR, HIPAA, experience or testimonial documents.
How long does it take to get contracted with L.A. Care as a doula?
L.A. Care reviews doula applications quarterly, says credentialing typically takes 30 to 90 days, and its provider webinar says to allow at least three months for the whole process. Sending every document at once avoids the most common delay.
Which application does L.A. Care use for doulas?
Individual doulas complete the California Participating Ancillary Application (CPAA) with Addendums A and B. Doula organizations complete the HDO (Health Delivery Organization) Credentialing Application and list every doula who will serve L.A. Care members.
Do I need liability insurance to contract with L.A. Care?
Individual doulas send current liability insurance or, if they don’t have it, sign L.A. Care’s liability waiver attestation. Doula organizations send a current professional or malpractice insurance certificate.
What is L.A. Care’s payer ID for doula claims?
LACAR. L.A. Care accepts electronic claims through clearinghouses, including Office Ally at no cost, and needs a current W-9 on file before it processes any claim.
Can I bill L.A. Care for a member enrolled with Anthem Blue Cross or Blue Shield Promise?
No. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Promise are L.A. Care’s Plan Partners in Los Angeles County, and their members’ claims go to that plan, which has its own doula contracting. An eligibility check before the first visit shows which plan the member is in.

This guide summarizes L.A. Care Health Plan’s published material for convenience and is not billing or legal advice. Plans change their processes and contacts; follow your contract and confirm with L.A. Care before you apply or bill.