Carelon Is Moving PaySpan Payments to Zelis
By George Ruan • August 24, 2026
Last updated: August 23, 2026.
The short answer: Carelon Behavioral Health says it is moving payment processing for Carelon-member payments from PaySpan to Zelis in mid-2026. If your therapy practice is not enrolled with Zelis for this Carelon payment relationship, Carelon directs you to register through its ePayment Center so electronic payment data and remittances can continue at no cost. Read Carelon’s official notice.
Important boundary: Carelon says this process applies to payments for Carelon members. For Anthem payments, continue using your existing payment process. The notice does not announce a change to reimbursement rates, benefits, credentialing, authorizations, or claim adjudication.
What this means for a therapist: your clinical work and claim submission may look the same, but the company delivering the deposit and remittance is changing. The practical job is to make sure the new payment path is active and that the first Zelis deposits still match the correct Carelon claims in your billing system.
Sections
What Carelon Confirmed
Carelon’s first-quarter 2026 provider newsletter, revised in April 2026, says Zelis acquired PaySpan and that Carelon will move its payment processing from PaySpan to Zelis in mid-2026. Carelon also says the original 2025 go-live was adjusted to mid-2026. The notice does not provide a more specific national transition date. See page 5 of the Carelon newsletter.
Not enrolled with Zelis: Carelon directs providers to register at the Carelon ePayment Center or call 855-774-4392 to continue receiving claim payment data and remittances electronically at no cost.
Already enrolled with Zelis: Carelon says payments should continue as usual and providers can use the Zelis Portal to access payment data and remittances.
Need older records: Carelon says historical payment data will remain available at payspanhealth.com.
Need Zelis support: Carelon lists 877-828-8770 and [email protected], available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern.
Carelon Payments and Anthem Payments Are Not the Same Here
This is the easiest part of the announcement to miss. Carelon’s notice says the new process is specific to payments for Carelon members. It separately tells providers to keep using their existing payment process for Anthem.
A practice may interact with Carelon in connection with more than one health plan or employer benefit arrangement. Do not use the Carelon logo alone to decide that every related deposit should move to Zelis. Check the payer and member relationship on the remittance, then follow the payment instructions for that specific relationship.
What Therapists Should Do Now
Identify which deposits are actually Carelon-member payments. Review recent PaySpan remittances, payer names, and claim references. Keep Anthem payments in a separate lane because Carelon says the Anthem process is not changing under this notice.
Verify the Carelon-specific Zelis setup. Having a Zelis login for another payer does not prove that the Carelon payment relationship is ready. Confirm the correct TIN/EIN, NPI, service locations, bank account, and remittance destination for Carelon.
Register if needed. Use the Carelon ePayment Center or the enrollment phone number in Carelon’s notice. Save the confirmation and the date it was submitted.
Preserve the PaySpan history you rely on. Carelon says historical data will remain available, but it is still sensible to export or document the reports your practice uses for month-end reconciliation, open balances, and payment research.
Reconcile the first Zelis payments manually. For the first few deposits, match the EFT amount, effective date, payer, trace information, and ERA to the correct claims before assuming the new feed is working normally.
The Real Risk Is an Unmatched Payment, Not a New Therapy Rule
Carelon’s announcement is about the payment platform. It does not say therapists must change CPT codes, documentation, authorization requests, or clinical workflows.
The operational risk is quieter. A deposit can reach the bank while its ERA fails to reach the clearinghouse or EHR. The practice then has cash it cannot easily match to claims, an aging report that still shows balances as open, and staff spending time searching two portals for the missing explanation.
That cash-flow and reconciliation scenario is practical inference, not a problem Carelon says will occur. It is simply what a billing team should test whenever a payer changes payment vendors.
What If Zelis Offers a Virtual Card or Fee-Based Option?
Carelon’s notice does not say the transition will default providers into virtual cards or charge a payment fee. Do not present that as part of the announcement.
If your practice separately receives a virtual card or an unwanted paid payment service, pause before processing it and review the available method. CMS says a provider can request health-plan payment through the adopted ACH EFT standard instead of a virtual credit card, although the provider must enroll for EFT and ERA with each health plan it bills. Read the CMS EFT and ERA FAQ.
For the broader operational steps, see Bomi’s guide to switching from Zelis virtual cards to standard ACH EFT.
What Could Happen Next
Confirmed: Carelon says Zelis will contact providers with additional information and guidance. It has not published an exact national go-live date beyond mid-2026 in the cited notice.
Operational inference: practices that treat “Zelis enrollment” as one universal switch may discover that payer-specific setup still matters. A better long-term workflow is to track payment enrollment by payer relationship, TIN, NPI, bank account, ERA destination, submission date, and tested status.
Where Bomi Fits
Shameless plug: Bomi can handle the unglamorous part for your therapy practice—checking the Carelon payment lane, completing the right EFT/ERA enrollment, monitoring the first deposits, and matching the remittances back to claims. You keep seeing clients; we make sure a vendor switch does not turn into a month of mystery deposits and fake accounts receivable.
Talk with Bomi about billing and payment setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Carelon moving from PaySpan to Zelis?
Carelon says the payment-processing transition will occur in mid-2026. Its cited notice does not provide a more specific national go-live date and says Zelis will send providers additional information.
Does the Carelon Zelis change apply to Anthem payments?
No, not under this announcement. Carelon says the described process is specific to payments for Carelon members and tells providers to continue their existing payment process for Anthem.
Do I need to enroll if I already have a Zelis account?
Carelon says providers already enrolled with Zelis should continue receiving payments as usual. Still verify that your Carelon-specific TIN, NPI, bank account, and remittance destination are configured instead of assuming another payer’s Zelis setup covers Carelon.
Will I lose access to my PaySpan payment history?
Carelon says historical payment data will remain available at payspanhealth.com. Practices should still preserve the reports they depend on for reconciliation and payment research.
Is Carelon saying Zelis will charge therapists a fee?
No. Carelon’s notice does not announce a virtual-card default or payment fee. If a practice separately receives an unwanted virtual card or paid service, CMS says it can request the adopted ACH EFT standard and must enroll with each health plan it bills.
Sources
This article is general operational information, not legal advice or a guarantee of payment. Confirm your practice’s own enrollment and payment instructions with Carelon and Zelis.
Want Bomi to handle insurance billing?
Bomi helps therapy practices with benefit checks, claims, denials, balances, CAQH, attestations, and revenue management.
Talk to Bomi about billing