ClearRoster · Guide · California

How to check the California Medicaid exclusion list every month

If your practice bills California Medicaid, check your staff, contractors and vendors against California's own exclusion list as well as the federal ones. A person can be on a state list without being on the federal OIG list, and the other way round. This page shows where California's list is, how to check it yourself for free, and how to keep a record that you did.

Where the California list is

The Medi-Cal Suspended and Ineligible Provider List is published by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) at files.medi-cal.ca.gov. DHCS publishes the Suspended and Ineligible Provider List (S&I List) as an Excel file, and it is mirrored as a CSV on the state's open data portal (data.chhs.ca.gov). If the DHCS page does not load, the open data copy has the same list. It is published monthly.

DHCS notes that the list is not all-inclusive: temporary suspensions, payment withholds and deactivations are not on it, and DHCS advises checking the federal OIG list as well.

The monthly routine

1. Keep a roster of everyone who works on anything billed to Medicaid or Medicare: employees, contractors and the vendors you pay. Note each person's full legal name, any other last names, and their NPI or license number if you have them.
2. Each month, get the newest copy of the California list from the page above and note its date.
3. Look up every name. Try the last name on its own as well as last plus first, because spelling and name order vary. Look up businesses by their legal name and any "doing business as" name.
4. Treat a name match as a question. Compare the NPI, license number, address or other details on the list with what you hold before deciding it is the same person. If you are unsure, contact the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).
5. Check the federal lists too: the OIG exclusion list and SAM.gov. The main guide covers those step by step.
6. Keep a dated record: the date you checked, the date of each list, the names checked, any close matches and how you resolved them. Save the file or search results you used.

If a match is confirmed, stop the person's involvement in anything billed to Medicaid or Medicare and talk to your attorney or compliance adviser.

Limits to know

• A list is only as current as its last update, so use the newest copy each time.
• No search proves someone is not excluded under another name.
• California may have other screening requirements for your type of practice, such as license checks.
• This page is general information, not legal or compliance advice.

If you want it done for you: ClearRoster

ClearRoster checks the California Medi-Cal Suspended and Ineligible Provider List every month, along with the other lists named below. The copy it uses now is dated 2026-09-09 and has 23,433 entries.

Everything it checks today: the OIG list and SAM.gov, plus 12 state Medicaid lists: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, California, Georgia, Indiana, North Dakota, Iowa, North Carolina, Maryland, Kentucky, Montana. Each record names every list it did not check, and a name alone is never called a match.

Price: a 14-day free trial with no card needed to start, then $29 a month for up to 100 people and vendors or $49 for up to 500. It is a record of a screening check, not legal or compliance advice.

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