Every day across the U.S., lots of healthcare professionals receive lots of insurance payments, and new Nacha research shows there’s one common thread. Bryan Chamberlin, a partner at Guidehouse said, “ACH is by far the most common, most preferred method. In fact, the providers interviewed “told us that they really wanted all of their payors and all of their payments to be ACH. They acknowledged that it makes it fast, seamless and they have the ability to automate the process.” In contrast, Chamberlin said, “Where payments are not ACH, there is a reconciliation challenge, there could be manual processing.” Nacha reported there were 510 million ACH healthcare claim payments in 2024, a number that has been consistently rising for years. Still, there’s room for improvement, particularly among dentists, which tend to be smaller operators. Chamberlin said dentists “just don’t want to provide” information such as bank account numbers. Dentists also cited enrollment challenges with inconsistent requirements among the multiple insurers, plus concerns about insurers pulling back payments. “We want to elevate ACH in the healthcare space,” said Brad Smith, Nacha Senior Director, Industry Engagement and Advocacy. “When we look at ACH compared to other payment types—especially checks—we see that ACH is much lower cost. And any time we can lower costs in the healthcare space, the better off we’re going to be.”