# What a 10-Clinic Payer Onboarding Taught Us About Access and Payments

Brace Health’s perspective on organizing payer portals, EFT enrollment, and payment-method decisions during a multi-clinic onboarding.

## Our perspective: onboarding should uncover the payment bottlenecks

In a 10-clinic onboarding, the practice relied heavily on payer phone calls and paper checks. Some virtual card payments were declined because of the percentage charged, and replacement checks could take six to eight weeks.

We gathered the practice’s top-payer list, researched each payer’s portal and EFT requirements, helped create portal access, and completed EFT forms. We also contacted Zelis about its V-Pay rate and used claim volume to request a lower percentage. The exact rate and financial impact were not provided.

In this workflow, the practice observed funds arriving roughly three weeks faster after EFT enrollment. Accepting V-Pay also removed the reported six-to-eight-week wait for replacement paper checks in this case. Better portal access meant fewer eligibility and benefits calls for information previously requested from patients, though the reduction was not quantified. These are observations from one practice, not measured benchmarks.

## Separate access, enrollment, and payment-method questions

These issues can surface together during onboarding, but they need separate owners and follow-up:

- **Portal access:** Which payer accounts are needed, who can create a user, and what permissions are appropriate?
- **EFT and ERA:** Which payer forms are required, and how will the practice confirm electronic payment and remittance delivery?
- **Payment method:** What fees, timing, and terms apply to virtual cards, checks, or electronic transfer?
- **Reconciliation:** How will the first remittances and deposits be matched after a workflow changes?

For a practice with multiple clinics, keep payer, legal entity, tax identifier, location, and user access details organized according to each payer’s requirements. Do not assume one enrollment automatically covers every location or billing entity.

## The Brace Health point of view

Our view is that onboarding should examine how the practice actually gets payer information and money—not stop at collecting logins and forms. Questions about portal access, fees, check replacement, and first-deposit reconciliation can expose avoidable gaps early. The experience described here does not establish a specific savings, rate, or turnaround for another practice.