Philadelphia's CBH Wants a New Provider Agreement Signed by Dec. 31

Every CBH contract signed before October 1 runs out at year end. The replacement was due out in October, and if it isn't signed CBH decides alone whether to extend and on what terms. A second notice puts any idle contract on a 90-day termination track.

Community Behavioral Health, Philadelphia's Medicaid behavioral health plan, told all providers on October 1, 2026 that any CBH Provider Agreement signed before that date “will remain in effect until December 31, 2026.” An updated agreement “will be distributed in October 2026, with execution expected by December 31, 2026,” and takes effect January 1, 2027 once both sides sign.

The turn: the deadline is yours, the terms aren't

The notice spells out what happens if you don't sign in time: “CBH will determine, at its sole discretion, whether to extend the current Agreement and what terms and conditions will apply.” So the date that matters isn't January 1. It's the two months, at most, between the document reaching you and December 31, to read a contract nobody outside CBH has seen yet.

It arrives with no rate lever. CBH's September 8 notice says “the suspension of provider-initiated rate requests remains in effect,” and that CBH can't help financially “beyond standard claim reimbursement.” That comes after IBHS and ABA were left out of this year's rate increases, and third-party liability reversals are no longer reprocessed.

The second notice: idle contracts get terminated

The same day, CBH said it “will initiate contract termination for in-network providers who have demonstrated zero service utilization and/or no claim submissions within a 12-month period,” with “the requisite 90-day advance notice.” For an IBHS agency, the exposure is a site, a service or a newly credentialed location that's in the contract but hasn't billed in a year.

The notice also asks providers to update the Provider Application whenever anything changes, and says that information “may be used in outward-facing materials.”

The limits

Neither notice mentions IBHS or ABA. Both are addressed to all CBH providers, so they reach IBHS agencies only because those agencies are in the network. Neither says what changes in the new agreement. The zero-utilization notice doesn't say whether the 12 months is counted per agreement, per site or per service. CBH hasn't said whether the October distribution has gone out to everyone. If yours hasn't arrived, that's the first thing to fix.

What you must know or do

  • Owners, this week: check whether the updated agreement has reached you. CBH said it would go out in October. If it hasn't, ask your CBH Provider Relations Representative for it in writing and keep the reply.
  • Owners: set an internal sign-off date in early December, not December 31, and name who signs for the entity. Once it arrives, compare it with your current agreement on rates, termination, audit and recoupment terms before that date.
  • Billing leads: run 12 months of CBH claims by site and service. Any line with zero claims is what the termination notice describes. Either start billing it or decide deliberately to let it go.
  • Office managers: open your CBH Provider Application and correct anything out of date: addresses, staff, services. CBH says it may publish it.