What is an EFT in healthcare payments?
An EFT is a payer's electronic payment into the provider's bank account, sent by ACH with a trace number that links it to its ERA.
Deposit to remittance match
| Source | Date | Amount | Trace number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank deposit, ACH credit from Example Health Plan | 03/20/2026 | $111.22 | 1004821 |
| 835 remittance, TRN segment | 03/20/2026 | $111.22 | 1004821 |
- When the numbers match, the deposit is reconciled. When a deposit has no 835 after three business days, someone needs to ask the payer for it.
Most payers pay by EFT through the ACH network. Healthcare EFTs follow a standard format, CCD+, whose addenda carry a reassociation trace number. The same number appears in the TRN segment of the 835.
Reassociation
Matching each deposit to its remittance is called reassociation. Operating rules expect payers to send the EFT and the ERA within three business days of each other, and to put the trace number on both. When they do, matching is exact. When they don’t, or when the bank strips the addenda, deposits are matched by amount and payer, which is slower and error-prone.
Getting the trace number
Many banks don’t show the addenda by default. Providers usually have to ask their bank to deliver the full CCD+ addenda in online banking or in BAI2 files, so the trace number is there to match.
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