Phase 1 — before giving notice
Do all of this while the relationship is still cooperative. After notice, every request takes longer and is answered more literally.
- Data ownership — confirm in the contract that the data is yours, and in what format you can receive it.
- Notice period — what it is, and when the clock starts.
- Post-termination fees — what, if anything, you pay on money collected after you leave. Ask directly; it is rarely volunteered.
- Practice management system access — your own administrator login, not a shared one.
- Clearinghouse access — your own credentials, and confirmation of whose account the enrolment sits under.
- Payer portal logins — listed per payer, with the email address each is registered to.
- A/R aging report — full export by payer and bucket. This is your baseline.
- Open claims list — with date of last activity on each.
Phase 2 — agree before cutover
These are decisions, not tasks, and each needs to be written down rather than assumed.
- Who works the open A/R, to what date, and at what rate. The single most important item on this page.
- Who appeals denials received during the overlap period.
- Who handles patient balances already in progress, and who answers patient calls about them.
- Cutover date for new claims, and whether there is a parallel period.
- Final reporting — what the outgoing company provides, and when.
Phase 3 — move the plumbing
- ERA enrolments — re-routed to the new clearinghouse or account. This takes payer-side processing time, so start early.
- EFT details — confirm deposits continue to the correct account throughout.
- Credentialing records — current enrolment status per provider per payer, plus re-credentialing dates.
- Fee schedules and contracts — the new company needs these to detect underpayments.
- Historical data export — claims, payments and notes, in a format you can actually read.
Phase 4 — verify, 60 to 90 days later
The transition is not finished at cutover. It is finished when you have checked.
- Compare A/R against the baseline you exported. Did the old claims get worked, or just get older?
- Check deposits against the same period last year, not last month.
- Confirm no claims were lost in the gap — reconcile the open-claims list against what the new company is now working.
- Check submission lag has settled to one to two business days.
If you want the reasoning behind this order, the cash-flow sequence explains why each phase sits where it does.
