Prerequisites for ERA Processing

Prior to beginning the ERA Posting process, it is necessary to enroll with an ERA trading partner (payer or clearinghouse). The timing of enrollment is critical and must be completed prior to receiving ERA 835 files from payers. Consult with the trading partner on the process required for downloading files from their website.

To manage downloaded ERA 835 files, a filing system and naming convention should be determined and set up in advance. For example, a directory for storing unprocessed ERA files could be created as follows: ERA > Medicare > Unprocessed Files. It is recommended to also create a separate sub-folder for storing files that have already been imported and processed in NextGen® Enterprise PM. For example, ERA > Medicare > Processed Files. It is important to place these directory folders in a location that can be accessed by all users responsible for downloading and importing ERA files.

It is also important to store only ERA 835 files in the directory folder and not include reports and/or other files in the same directory. The Directory Import process in NextGen® Enterprise PM does not distinguish between file types and will select all files within the designated folder when using the NextGen® Background Business Processor to automatically download ERA files.