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Dropping EOB files for SaRA in your shared folder: a one-page guide for billing teams

Where to put a practice's EOB and remittance PDFs so SaRA picks them up on its own, which file types work, how you can tell a file was taken, and the few things to avoid.

Written by Valeed Malik

You bill for a practice that uses SaRA, and SaRA builds that practice's monthly invoice from what payers actually paid on the RTM codes. The fastest way to get those payments to SaRA is the shared folder the practice (or SaRA) has already opened for you. Drop the files there and SaRA takes them from there. No login, no email, nothing to fill in.

Where to put the files

Use the shared Google Drive folder you were given for that practice. One folder is one practice: if you bill for two practices on SaRA, you have two folders, and each file goes in the folder for the practice it belongs to.

Sub-folders are fine. Many teams keep a folder per month, with a folder per payment week inside it. SaRA reads inside those too, up to four levels deep. Keep it shallower than that and nothing is missed.

What to drop

  • EOB or remittance PDFs, one payer remittance per file, up to 20 MB each. This is the file you already download from the payer portal or scan from the mailed EOB.

  • A .zip of PDFs if you prefer one file per week. SaRA opens the zip and files every PDF inside it on its own. Keep a zip under 200 files and do not password-protect it.

Anything else in the folder (a claims spreadsheet, a Word document, a Google Doc) is left alone. It is not taken and it does not get in the way.

Please no .rar files. SaRA cannot open a .rar, so a .rar in the folder is skipped and SaRA has to come back and ask you for the PDFs. Loose PDFs or a .zip, either works.

What happens after you drop a file

  1. SaRA checks the folder once an hour. Each check takes up to 25 new files from the folder, so a large first drop is picked up over a few hours, not all at once.

  2. Each PDF is read and the payments in it are posted against the practice's claims. You do not need to do anything else.

  3. Once a file has been taken it is recorded on SaRA's side; the practice's SaRA contact can confirm any file for you.

Dropped the same file twice? Nothing happens. SaRA recognises a file it already has and does not post it again, even under a different name. It is always safe to re-drop.

If a file could not be used

A file SaRA could not read stays where you put it. The usual reasons are a file that is not really a PDF (a Google Doc, a shortcut, a picture), a PDF over 20 MB, a password-protected zip, or a .rar. The practice's SaRA contact sees which file it was and will reach out. To fix it yourself, replace it with a plain PDF export of the same remittance.

Please do not

  • Put files into a sub-folder whose name starts with SaRa (for example SaRa Reviewed). Those folders are reserved for SaRA's own use and are never read, so a file placed there by hand is never taken.

  • Drop a shortcut to a file, or a Google Doc. SaRA can only take a real PDF (or a zip of PDFs).

  • Email EOBs to SaRA or to the practice. The folder is the secure path; email is not.

  • Split one remittance across several PDFs. One payer remittance, one file.

Questions about a specific file or practice? Ask the practice's office manager, who can reach SaRA from inside their account, or write to [email protected] with the practice name and the file name (never the EOB itself).

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