Can Qualified Treatment Trainees Bill Chorus BadgerCare Plus?
By George Ruan • October 30, 2026
Yes, conditionally: Chorus Community Health Plans’ current BadgerCare Plus Medicaid manual recognizes qualified treatment trainees (QTTs) with a graduate degree who are working toward full clinical licensure. They must be enrolled with Wisconsin Medicaid and entered in Chorus’s provider system before claims are submitted. The manual says QTTs can submit claims on their own behalf. This is not the older individual-plan instruction to use a supervisor’s name and NPI.
Sections
Which trainees qualify, and are students included?
ForwardHealth’s QTT enrollment guidance identifies LPCs-in-training, LMFTs-in-training, APSWs, ISWs and unlicensed doctoral psychologists. The master’s-level pathway leads toward clinical social work, professional counseling or marriage and family therapy licensure; the doctoral pathway leads toward psychologist licensure. QTTs require supervision from Medicaid-enrolled, licensed providers and must follow the relevant licensing board’s supervision rules.
A clinical student who has not completed a graduate degree cannot enroll as a QTT under this pathway. Student services have separate rules; this article does not establish a Chorus student-billing exception. Social workers who need supervision but are not seeking clinical-social-work licensure have a separate certified-psychotherapist enrollment category.
Enrollment and Chorus setup come before billing
In the current manual’s “Claims for Qualified Treatment Trainees” section, Chorus requires the QTT’s name, NPI, group tax ID, practice locations, specialty and effective date for its provider-system update. Wait for confirmation that the update is complete before submitting claims. Once fully licensed, the practitioner needs credentialing; the manual warns that this can take up to 90 days. A graduate degree alone does not establish active plan participation.
Whose NPI belongs on the claim?
ForwardHealth distinguishes the allowable billing provider from the actual renderer: the QTT’s NPI is reported as rendering provider, while an allowable agency, hospital, FQHC, billing group or independent licensed professional can be the biller. Professional-level modifiers remain required. The current Chorus manual instructs providers to follow Medicaid billing rules and use their state-registered NPI and taxonomy. Do not replace the QTT’s rendering identity with the supervisor merely because supervision is required.
This is not a universal modifier or code recipe. Use the current service-specific Medicaid and Chorus instructions, including authorization and documentation requirements. Payment eligibility remains limited to covered services within the practitioner’s scope and allowed settings; it does not certify every proposed supervision arrangement.
Why the older supervisor-NPI and U6 instructions differ
An older 2025 Chorus Individual and Family Plan manual described supervisor-name/NPI billing with U6 for graduate QTTs. That was a different product. Chorus’s official discontinuation notice says its Individual and Family health and dental options ended for 2026, with existing coverage continuing through December 31, 2025 subject to its terms. Do not carry that historical claim recipe into current BadgerCare Plus billing.
The current payer-ID crosswalk is also product-specific: Chorus’s 2026 administration-transition FAQ identifies payer ID 29123 for Medicaid claims. It says incorrect payer IDs cause rejection beginning July 1, 2026. Network Health’s administration role does not make this a Network Health Medicare or commercial policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the old Chorus IFP U6 policy govern Medicaid QTT claims?
No. It described a different, discontinued product. Use the current BadgerCare Plus manual and service-specific Medicaid instructions rather than importing the old supervisor-NPI recipe.
Sources and dates
Checked October 30, 2026. Chorus’s live provider-manual page links the 2026 BadgerCare Plus manual revised October 21, 2026. The QTT section is on printed page 48 (PDF page 56). The revision date establishes the version reviewed, not the original date QTT eligibility began. Use the policy applicable to the service date for historical claims.
Chorus current provider-manual index
Chorus 2026 BadgerCare Plus provider manual
ForwardHealth QTT enrollment and claims guidance
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