> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.practiceownersguide.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Switch banks without missing a payer deposit

> Move your banking with zero misdirected payer payments and zero payroll surprises — a re-enrollment project with a banking step attached.

**Goal:** move your banking with zero misdirected payer payments and zero payroll surprises.

**Why a playbook:** your account is referenced in dozens of systems that don't know about each other: every payer enrollment, every aggregator, payroll, autopays, your loan, your processor. A bank switch is a re-enrollment project with a banking step attached.

## The cardinal rule

**Keep the old account open and funded until the last payer verifiably deposits into the new one.** The overlap costs a month or two of fees. Misdirected payments cost far more.

## The timeline

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
    P1["Wk 0: Map<br/>every inflow + outflow"] --> P2["Wk 0-1: Prepare<br/>open accounts, packet"]
    P2 --> P3["Wk 1-6: Re-enroll payers<br/>biggest first, track to verified"]
    P3 --> P4["Wk 2-4: Move outflows<br/>payroll first, then taxes, loans"]
    P4 --> P5["Wk 6-10: Drain + close<br/>zero deposits 2-3 wks, sweep, close"]
```

## Phase 1: Map (week 0)

List everything pointing at the old account:

* **Payers by dollars** from 12 months of deposits, including the disguised ones (ECHO, Zelis, Payspan, Optum descriptors are payers on [aggregator rails](/guides/enroll-eft-era))
* **Outflows:** payroll, EFTPS and state taxes, loan autopays, rent, insurance, subscriptions, processor settlement
* **Paper:** who mails checks where ([lockbox](/concepts/lockboxes) considerations)

A line-by-line statement review catches what memory misses.

## Phase 2: Open and prepare (weeks 0 to 1)

Open the new accounts ([structure](/start-here/03-setting-up-your-banking)), assemble the enrollment packet, and stage the change list: payers ranked by dollars, grouped by portal so one session covers many payers.

## Phase 3: Re-enroll payers (weeks 1 to 6)

Work the [directory](/reference/payer-enrollment-directory) as changes, not new enrollments. Expect re-verification steps: penny deposits, EnrollSafe's callback, Optum Financial's \~5-day window, up to four weeks for slow payers. Medicare needs a new **CMS-588** via PECOS. Biggest payers first, so the highest-dollar exposure window is shortest.

Track three states per payer: **submitted → accepted → verified** (a real deposit in the new account). Only verified counts.

## Phase 4: Move the outflows (weeks 2 to 4)

Payroll first, with one validated cycle before cutover. Then taxes, loans, vendors, processor settlement. Leave a buffer in the old account.

## Phase 5: Drain and close (weeks 6 to 10)

The old account's deposit activity is the progress bar. Zero deposits for 2 to 3 weeks plus every payer verified: sweep and close. Keep the final statements as the audit trail, and run [reconciliation](/concepts/reconciliation) across both accounts during the overlap. That's what catches the forgotten payer.

## Special cases

**Acquisitions:** the buyer runs this on the deal timeline, see [Buy a practice](/guides/buy-a-practice). **Lender-required moves:** same playbook; negotiate the deadline around re-enrollment reality. **Selling:** keep the old entity account open through the A/R tail per the purchase agreement.

<Note>
  **Lemma aside:** payer migration is Lemma's onboarding: the map built from your statements, every enrollment chased to verified, in a tracker showing exactly which payers have moved ([getlemma.com](https://getlemma.com)).
</Note>