UMR Is Shifting Payments to Zelis From Optum Pay — Watch Out for the 3% Fee
By George Ruan • July 1, 2026
If UMR has always paid you through Optum Pay, don't assume that's still true. Bomi catches the switch and locks in no-fee direct deposit before you lose anything to it.
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What we're seeing
UMR is a third-party administrator (TPA) — part of the UnitedHealthcare family — that administers self-funded employer health plans. Historically, some UMR-administered payments have run through Optum Pay, which typically delivers standard ACH direct deposit with no per-payment fee. We're now seeing UMR-administered plans move that payment relationship off Optum Pay and onto Zelis instead — the same vendor that already handles payments for payers like Allegiance and HealthLink.
That's not automatically a problem. It becomes one if the switch defaults your practice into Zelis's virtual card payment method (a single-use card number you “redeem” in a merchant portal) or a fee-based “fast” EFT instead of standard ACH. Run one of those and it skims a 2–3% processing fee straight out of that payment. If you don't notice the platform changed, you can end up running several virtual cards — paying that fee on money you used to receive fee-free — before anyone catches it.
How to check: look at your most recent UMR payment. If it arrived through Optum Pay, you're fine for now — but check again periodically. If it arrived as a Zelis virtual card or a Zelis-branded EFT, you're already exposed to the fee on that payment, and every payment after it until you fix it.
You don't have to pay that fee
Federal CMS guidance is clear that a health plan or its vendor cannot require you to accept virtual cards, and that you can request the no-fee standard ACH EFT instead — the same right that applies once a payer moves onto Zelis for any other TPA. The 2–3% is a charge for an optional service you can decline. (For the full legal basis — the HIPAA EFT standard adopted under the Affordable Care Act — see our Zelis no-fee EFT guide.)
How to protect yourself before or during the switch
Don't run a virtual card the moment you see one land from UMR — running it is what actually charges you the fee. Opt out with Zelis first.
Enroll in no-fee standard ACH EFT for UMR through its payer-sponsored Zelis ePayment Center, using your practice TIN/EIN, NPI, and bank account. This is a separate enrollment even if you already have a Zelis EPC account for another payer — it doesn't carry over automatically.
Set up electronic remittances (835/ERA) so UMR payments keep posting cleanly in your system after the switch.
If Zelis or UMR resists, file a CMS Administrative Simplification (ASETT) complaint naming the plan — they can't condition electronic payment on a fee.
How Bomi helps
Bomi watches for exactly this kind of payment-platform switch on the payers we bill. When UMR (or any payer) moves onto Zelis, we catch it, opt your practice out of the virtual card, and get you enrolled in no-fee standard ACH EFT with electronic remittances — before the fee has a chance to eat into your payments.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and reflects patterns Bomi is observing across the practices we bill for — not a formal, payer-published notice. The legal protections described come from federal CMS guidance and your right to request the standard EFT transaction; enforcement runs through the CMS complaint process, and specifics can change. Confirm your own account's payment method and options directly with UMR, Zelis, and CMS before relying on them.
Want us to keep an eye on this for you? Reach us here https://www.billwithbomi.com/#contact.
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