EFT and ERA are two separate enrollments that are easy to confuse. EFT moves the money to your bank account. ERA sends the electronic remittance that tells Carepatron how to apply that money to your claims. You need both, and each is enrolled in a different place.
This article is for practice owners and whoever manages your banking. Workspace admin access is not required, but only an authorised account holder can complete a bank enrollment.
Topics covered:
What EFT and ERA each do
Finding which portal your payer uses
What to gather before you start
Why cheques keep arriving after you enrol
What Carepatron can and cannot do for you
Frequently asked questions
What EFT and ERA each do
Use this to work out which of the two is missing when payments are not behaving as expected.
Enrollment | What it does | Where you enrol |
EFT | Pays you by bank deposit instead of a posted cheque | The payer's payment portal |
ERA | Sends the remittance so payments post against claims automatically | Carepatron, through Claim.MD |
Note: Enrolling only in EFT means money arrives in your bank but does not reconcile in Carepatron. Enrolling only in ERA means Carepatron sees the remittance but the payer still posts a cheque.
Finding which portal your payer uses
Payers choose the portal, not you, so the first step is identifying which one applies.
Payspan (Required for many commercial payers), registration code arrives by post or email
Zelis, used by several commercial payers, often alongside Payspan
ECHO Health, common for out-of-network payments and some Blues plans
InstaMed, used by several large national payers
Availity, where the payer handles EFT inside its own provider portal
Important: Forward any enrollment invitation from these portals to us before acting on it. Several expire in about five days, and a missed invitation restarts the enrollment.
What to gather before you start
Every portal asks for the same core information, so collecting it once saves repeating the process per payer.
Bank verification (Required), a voided cheque or a bank letter on letterhead showing account and routing numbers
EIN (Required), matching the entity the payer contract is with
NPI (Required), the number the payer holds on file for you
Enrollment code, from the payer's invitation where one was issued
Authorised signatory, the person who can authorise a bank enrollment
Note: If you bank online and cannot produce a voided cheque, a bank-issued letter confirming the account is accepted by every portal listed above.
Why cheques keep arriving after you enroll
EFT has an effective date, and remittances generated before that date pay by whatever method was in force at the time.
Check the service date on the cheque against your EFT effective date.
If the service date is earlier, no action is needed. A cheque can arrive weeks after you enrol.
If the service date is later, tell us and we will confirm the enrollment status with the payer.
What Carepatron can and cannot do for you
Knowing the boundary up front avoids waiting on us for something only you can complete.
We can identify which portal a payer uses, confirm whether an ERA enrollment is active in Claim.MD, check EFT status with the payer by phone, and reconcile payments once remittances arrive
We cannot complete a bank enrollment on your behalf, because every portal requires the account holder to authorize it and several use two-factor authentication tied to your own phone or email
Frequently asked questions
Can I enroll in ERA without EFT?
Yes, but payments will still arrive as cheques. ERA only controls how the remittance reaches Carepatron.
I have enrolled, and nothing has changed. What should I do?
Check your EFT effective date first. If the date has passed and deposits are still not arriving, send us the payer name and we will confirm the status directly.
Do I need to enroll separately for every payer?
Yes, for EFT, because each payer controls its own portal. ERA is enrolled once per payer in Claim.MD.