To get started, watch the Loula Training video.
The training video will go over the must-know portions of the Loula Handbook.
Your Relationship to Loula
Welcome to the Loula Provider Network! Here’s how our relationship works:
Loula as Your Provider Group: Loula functions as an “in-network” provider group with managed care plans. We hold group contracts with these plans, so you’re part of a network that works directly with Medi-Cal managed care organizations.
Independent Contractor Status: As a member of Loula, you remain an independent contractor. This allows you to run your business independently while adhering to Medicaid/Medi-Cal and managed care plan guidelines. You’ll receive a 1099 from Loula for tax purposes.
Credentialing Through Loula: Your credentialing with managed care plans is handled through Loula. To the plans, you are recognized as part of Loula’s provider group. This simplifies your ability to offer services to clients under these plans.
Dual Contracts with Managed Care Plans: You can maintain an independent contract with a managed care plan while also being a credentialed doula in Loula’s provider group. However, Loula only handles claims and payouts for services provided under Loula’s contracts. Any services you provide under an independent contract with a managed care plan will need to be managed separately.
Credentialing with Health Plans
Please reference Loula’s Credentialing Overview for a full guide to our credentialing process.
You can only bill for clients under 1 contract.
If you have an independent contract with a plan and you also work with that plan through Loula, you cannot bill for visits for a client under both your individual contract AND under Loula. You must pick one or the other!
This means that if you started seeing and billing for a client under your individual contract prior to starting work with Loula, you cannot switch to billing for that same client with Loula. You must continue billing for that client under your individual contract.
Loula will not bill for visits that occurred prior to your start date with a plan.
For example, if your Loula Credentialing Start Date with Kaiser Permanente was on 2/1/2025, we will only bill for visits that took place on or after 2/1/2025.
Reminder that credentialing for plans can take anywhere between 6 weeks and 6 months. Do not begin serving clients through Loula for a particular plan until you have a confirmed Credentialing Start Date
Maintaining Credentialing Documentation
In order to maintain your credentialing, you must keep the following three documents up-to-date:
Professional liability insurance
CPR training
HIPAA training
You must send any updated liability insurance or CPR/HIPAA certification training documents to Loula within 30 days of receipt. You will not be permitted to bill for visits with Loula if any of these documents are out-of-date. You will not receive payment for any claims that are denied due to out-of-date credentialing information.
For questions about professional liability insurance, see Professional liability insurance requirements.
Working with Health Insurance
Understanding the different types of insurance
As a doula in Loula’s provider group, it’s helpful to have a general understanding of insurance to support your clients. Here’s a breakdown of key concepts you may encounter in your work.
Medi-Cal vs. Commercial Insurance
Medi-Cal: Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program, a public health insurance option for individuals and families with low-income or other specific eligibility requirements (such as pregnancy). Medi-Cal plans are administered by managed care organizations (MCOs), such as Anthem, Health Net, or Molina, which contract with the state to deliver benefits. Most clients with Medi-Cal will have full coverage for doula services, but specific benefits may vary by plan.
Commercial Insurance: Commercial insurance refers to private health plans that are typically purchased through an employer or directly by an individual. These plans include policies sold through Covered California (the state’s health insurance marketplace) or purchased outside the marketplace. Doula service coverage under commercial insurance depends on the individual plan. Some plans may cover these services fully, partially, or not at all, depending on the benefits offered.
Primary and Secondary Insurance
Primary Insurance: A client’s primary insurance plan is the first one responsible for covering healthcare costs. It determines what services are covered and pays its share of the costs before any secondary insurance is billed.
Secondary Insurance: If a client has an additional insurance plan, it acts as secondary insurance. The secondary insurance helps cover costs that the primary plan doesn’t fully pay.
Why This Matters
In order for Loula to submit claims correctly, it’s essential to ask your clients whether they have any additional insurance plans and share that information with Loula when you’re creating a client in the portal. Otherwise there could be issues verifying their insurance and processing claims.
Examples of primary and secondary insurance scenarios
To help you recognize when a patient may have both primary and secondary insurance, here are some common examples:
Employer Insurance + Medi-Cal:
A patient has health insurance through their job but qualifies for Medi-Cal as secondary insurance because of their income level. Medi-Cal acts as a "safety net" to cover what the employer insurance doesn’t.
Two Commercial Plans:
A patient is covered by their employer’s insurance and is also listed as a dependent on their spouse’s employer-provided plan. In this case, the employer’s insurance is usually primary, and the spouse’s plan is secondary.
Parent’s Insurance + Medi-Cal:
A pregnant or postpartum patient under age 26 may still be covered by a parent’s commercial insurance plan but also qualify for Medi-Cal. In this scenario, the parent’s plan is primary, and Medi-Cal is secondary.
These examples can help guide your conversations with clients when gathering their insurance information. Be sure to ask your clients if they have more than one insurance plan.
If they do, insurance cards and information will need to be collected for both plans! If they have insurance through a parent, spouse, or domestic partner, you will also need to collect the insurance information for the insurance subscriber.
Client insurance verification
To ensure your visits are covered, it’s essential to get verification of client insurance information in the Loula portal through the "Create Client" form before scheduling visits. This step helps avoid performing visits that may not be reimbursed.
Once the insurance information is submitted in the portal, Loula will provide an update on the client’s insurance within three business days. You will receive an email from Loula with an update on the client’s insurance status.
Steps to collecting client's information
Follow each of these steps carefully for a smooth insurance verification process.
Collect insurance information and verify client’s insurance before you schedule any billable visits
Ask if the client has multiple insurance plans. If they do, collect information for both plans.
Gather the following insurance details:
Photos of the front and back of each insurance card
Plan name, client name, date of birth, member ID, group ID (if applicable), sex, address, and email
If the client’s secondary insurance is under someone else (e.g., a parent or spouse), collect the insurance subscriber’s details as well.
Ask clients if they have worked with any other doulas who accept insurance for this pregnancy.
Ask if the client has worked with another doula who accepts insurance for this pregnancy.
If they have, request:
A list of visits already completed
Contact information for the previous doula (if available) to cross-check visit details
Record any prior visits in the Loula portal as an Off-platform Visit.
⚠️ Logging off-platform visits is critical to maintaining accurate visit counts. If these off-platform visits are not logged, you may be allowed to submit visits that will be denied by health plans due to "frequency limitations." Loula reserves the right to withhold payment if this occurs.
Verify client information for accuracy
Double-check that all personal and insurance details are correct. Even small errors—such as misspelled names, incorrect dates of birth, or wrong member IDs—can make it difficult or impossible to verify insurance.
Visits & Payments
This section outlines the key details for submitting visits, the scope of services you can provide, and important guidelines for working as a Medi-Cal approved doula through Loula.
Loula Cycle: How it works
To ensure you receive payment for your services, it’s important to understand Loula’s cycle and submit visits on time.
Submitting Visits
Timely submission is critical to ensure proper payment.
Submit visits in the Loula portal as soon as possible.
Visits must be submitted within the cycle during which the visit occurs or the cycle immediately following.
Example:
If a visit happens on February 11, 2025, the latest date you can submit it is February 28, 2025, the last day of the 2/16/25–2/28/25 cycle.
Double-check that the visit date is accurate before submitting.
If you realize you’ve made a mistake, contact Loula Support through the portal immediately to correct it.
Cycles
Loula’s pay cycle operates on semi-monthly periods, meaning each cycle spans half of a month:
The first cycle: the 1st to the 15th of the month
the second cycle: The 16th to the last day of the month
When you get paid
There is a one cycle delay between when you submit a visit and when you get paid for a visit.
For example, if you submit a visit sometime between the 1st and the 15th, you will get paid for that visit at the end of of the following cycle (the end of the month)
Example Timeline
If a visit occurs on February 11, 2025, the timeline works as follows:
Cycle During the Visit: February 1–15, 2025
If you submit the visit in this cycle, payment will be deposited on February 28, 2025.
The following cycle: February 16–28, 2025
If you submit the visit during this grace period, payment will be deposited on March 15, 2025.
Last day to submit for a 2/11 visit: February 28, 2025
You will not be able to submit this visit after Feb 28th.
Submit all visits in the cycle they occur or in the cycle.
There are no exceptions to this rule! We strongly recommend that you submit the visits as they happen.
Covered Services
As a Medi-Cal-approved doula, you may only perform services that are covered under Medi-Cal doula guidelines. You are not permitted to perform medical services or provide medical advice.
Covered Doula Services Include:
Perinatal support and guidance
Health navigation
Evidence-based education and practices for prenatal, postpartum, childbirth, and newborn/infant care
Lactation support
Development of a birth plan
Linkages to community-based resources
Comfort measures and physical, emotional, and nonmedical support during labor and delivery
Support during miscarriage and abortion
Services Not Covered
As a Medi-Cal-approved doula, you are not permitted to provide or bill for the following services:
Belly binding (traditional/ceremonial)
Birthing ceremonies (e.g., sealing, closing the bones)
Group classes on babywearing
Massage (maternal or infant)
Photography (still or video)
Placenta encapsulation
Shopping
Vaginal steams
Yoga
If a client requests these services, explain that they are not part of the Medi-Cal doula benefit.
Refer Clients to Licensed Practitioners for Certain Services:
These services are covered, but not by the Medi-Cal doula benefit. They require different licensed or authorized practitioners. These services include:
Behavioral health services
Belly binding after cesarean section (performed by clinical personnel)
Clinical case coordination
Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum healthcare services
Childbirth education group classes
Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program (CPSP) services
Hypnotherapy (non-specialty mental health services)
Lactation consulting, group classes, and supplies
Nutrition services (assessment, counseling, and care planning)
Transportation
Covered Doula Service Visits
Medi-Cal allows reimbursement for the following doula service visits:
1 initial 90-minute visit (prenatal or postpartum)
8 standard visits (prenatal or postpartum, mixed as needed)
1 labor and delivery visit (vaginal, cesarean, VBAC, miscarriage, abortion)
2 extended postpartum visits (billed in 15-minute increments)
9 additional postpartum visits with a medical professional letter of recommendation
Providing Doula Services at Home Births
Loula permits doula support for home births only if a licensed medical professional (e.g., OB-GYN or midwife) is present.
You must report the medical professional’s NPI number when submitting the visit for billing.
We strongly advise you to check with your professional liability insurance carrier to confirm whether home birth doula support is covered under your policy.
Important Notes:
If your liability insurance does not cover home birth doula support, we strongly recommend that you either refrain from providing home birth support or secure professional liability insurance that does include this coverage.
Loula will not be held liable for any complications that arise during home birth doula support.
Read Labor & Delivery Support for more information about support during labor & delivery and the allowable visits on the day of delivery.
Important Reminders
Submitting visits as soon as possible ensures you’re paid in the earliest cycle possible.
Always verify that visit dates and details are accurate to avoid delays or rejections.
If you need assistance or realize an error after submission, contact Loula Support immediately.