STAR & CHIP Providers
Provider Portal
FirstCare providers have access to our online self-service portal. Here, you can look up claims, request an authorization, appeal a claim, and much more.
Log in/register to the Provider Portal.
Click on the YTBC - Medicaid Provider Portal Link to Access Medicaid Health Information
Are you having a hard time accessing a Medicaid patient’s health information? The YourTexasBenefitsCard (YTBC) website can help with that. Whether the client is in fee-for-service, or part of a Managed Care Organization or Dental Maintenance Organization, YTBC can give you access to:
- Verify eligibility and view program information (including third-party insurances);
- View Medicaid patients’ health information such as past Medicaid visits, diagnosis and treatments, lab claim information, vaccines and prescription medicines;
- View Texas Health Steps (THSteps) information;
- View Broadcast Message Alerts; and
- Blue Button - request a consolidated, downloadable report of a patient’s health information.
Simply click on the
YTBC - Medicaid Provider Portal tab on the
FirstCare Provider Portal home page.
Have questions or need help? Please call the YTBC Help Desk toll-free phone number:
1-855-827-3747 (7 a.m. - 7 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday).
Becoming a New Provider
Interested in joining our network? Please visit the
Becoming a New Provider page for general information. The following pertains specifically to our STAR & CHIP providers:
Credentialing Forms
Click on the links below to view/download FirstCare's Provider Credentialing forms:
Expedited Credentialing
The expedited credentialing process allows providers to participate in the FirstCare network on a provisional basis. This provisional status is available if:
- Provider is a first time applicant to FirstCare and provisional credentialing request is based on a critical need of the members.
- Provider is joining as a partner, shareholder or employee of a currently contracted and credentialed FirstCare provider in good standing.
- Provider has submitted the appropriate paperwork, including a complete Texas Standard Credentialing Application with current attestation.
- The applicable Regional Medical Director has reviewed the request and determined the application cannot be completed in 30 days or less.
- The required verifications must indicate the file is clean. This includes a state license in good standing with the appropriate medical board, as well as a clean NPDB query.
All provisionally approved providers must agree to comply with the terms of the FirstCare contract currently in force with the applicant physician’s established medical group. The full credentialing process must be completed within 60 calendar days of the date a physician is granted provisional status.
Provider Availability of Services
FirstCare monitors compliance for availability of services standards. In order to ensure the best quality of care for our members, we ask participating providers to operate within the standards described in the
Minimum Requirements for Provider Availability of Services.
STAR & CHIP Provider Training
Cultural Competency
An effective health communication is as important to health care as clinical skill. To improve individual health and build healthy communities, health care providers need to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities.
Additional cultural competency resources can be found on the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health website.
Complaints & Appeals
Filing complaints & appeals to FirstCare STAR
- Call: 1-800-431-7798,
- Fax: 1-877-878-8422,
- Email: csinfo@firstcare.com, or
- Mail to: FirstCare STAR
Attn: Customer Service Department
1901 West Loop 289 Ste. 9
Lubbock, TX 79407
Filing complaints & appeals to FirstCare CHIP
- Call: 1-877-639-2447,
- Fax: 1-877-878-8422,
- Email: csinfo@firstcare.com, or
- Mail to: FirstCare CHIP
Attn: Customer Service Department
1901 West Loop 289 Ste. 9
Lubbock, TX 79407
Filing complaints to HHSC
- Email: HPM_Complaints@hhsc.state.tx.us, or
- Mail to: Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Health Plan Operations – Resolution Services H-320
P.O. Box 85200
Austin, TX 78708
Filing complaints to TDI
- Call: 1-800-252-3439, OR
- Mail to: Texas Department of Insurance
P.O. Box 149104
Austin, TX 78714-9104