EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) is the ability for Highmark Medicare Services to deposit a provider's payment directly to the provider's bank account. The EFT payment is credited to the provider's bank account the day after the claim payment (remit) date. The EFT payment is the same process used to deposit a payroll check to an employee's bank account.

Medicare payments due a provider or supplier of services may be sent to a bank (or similar financial institution) for deposit in the provider/supplier’s account so long as the following requirements are met:

• The bank may provide financing to the provider/supplier, as long as the bank states in writing, in the loan agreement, that it waives its right of offset. Therefore, the bank may have a lending relationship with the provider/supplier and may also be the depository for Medicare receivables; and
  
  
• The account is in the provider/supplier’s name only and only the provider/supplier may issue any instructions on that account. The bank shall be bound by only the provider/supplier’s instructions. No other agreement that the provider/supplier has with a third party shall have any influence on the account. In other words, if a bank is under a standing order from the provider/supplier to transfer funds from the provider/supplier’s account to the account of a financing entity in the same or another bank and the provider/supplier rescinds that order, the bank honors this rescission notwithstanding the fact that it is a breach of the provider/supplier’s agreement with the financing entity.
  
  
• Irrespective of the language in any agreement a provider/supplier has with a third party that is providing financing, that third party cannot purchase the provider/supplier’s Medicare receivables.
  
  
• Subject to the above restrictions on the bank and to the bank’s meeting the conditions specified in §30.2.4, a bank which is the provider/supplier’s billing agent pursuant to an agreement with the provider/supplier and receives and deposits in the provider/supplier’s bank account the provider/supplier’s Medicare payments may, subject to instructions from the provider/supplier, draw on those funds to pay for its billing services.
  
  
• Subject to the above restrictions on the bank, the provider/supplier’s billing agent, other than the bank, that meets the conditions specified in §30.2.4 and receives and deposits in the provider/supplier’s bank account the provider/supplier’s Medicare payments may, subject to instructions from the provider/supplier, draw on these funds to pay for its billing services.
  
  
• Notwithstanding the above restrictions, if a court of competent jurisdiction orders the assignment or reassignment of Medicare payments, Medicare will follow that order if, as stated in 42 C.F.R. §424.73(b)(2) and listed in 42 C.F.R. §424.90, a certified copy of the court order and of the executed assignment or reassignment (if it was necessary to execute one) is filed with the contractor responsible for processing the claim and the assignment or reassignment (1) applies to all Medicare benefits payable to a particular person or entity during a specified or indefinite time period; or, (2) specifies a particular amount of money, payable to a particular person or entity by the particular contractor. In all other instances, the Medicare program will make payments subject to the restrictions listed above. For example, even if a court order directed to a provider/supplier limits the provider/supplier’s ability to breach its financial agreement with a third party, the bank is bound by instructions from the provider/supplier.

To sign up for EFT, print and complete the EFT Request form, and mail it to:

Manager, Provider Enrollment Services
PO Box 890157
Camp Hill, PA 17089-0157