MCEDT (Medical Claims Electronic Data Transfer) is the Ministry of Health service that moves claim files to OHIP and returns error reports and remittance advices. Registering means four things in order: hold an OHIP billing number, receive the ministry's registration letter with two unique identifiers, create a GO Secure account, then complete EDT enrolment and designate whoever will submit for you. The physician has to do this personally.
IntelAGENT is set up as your MCEDT designee during onboarding, after which files go out and reports come back on their own. See how →
Every electronic OHIP claim in Ontario reaches the ministry the same way, whatever software sends it. MCEDT is that way. Billing software does not have its own private pipe to OHIP — it uses your MCEDT credentials, acting as a designee you authorise.
That matters for two reasons. First, you cannot shop for billing software before you have a billing number; the software has nothing to connect to. Second, switching software later does not mean re-registering — it means changing who is designated.
Step 1: Get an OHIP billing number
Nothing downstream can start without one. The billing number is issued by the Ministry of Health to physicians licensed by the CPSO, and it identifies you on every claim.
If you are a new graduate, this is usually bundled into the paperwork around your first appointment, but it is not automatic — the application is yours to make. Hospital-based physicians sometimes assume the hospital arranges it. It does not.
Group numbers are separate. If you will bill under a hospital department, an emergency group or an academic group, that group has its own four-digit ministry group number, and your billing number has to be registered as a member of it. Group membership is arranged through the group's administrator, not through MCEDT.
Step 2: The ministry registration letter
Once your billing number exists, the ministry mails a registration letter. The letter carries two unique identifiers that the EDT enrolment screen asks for. They are the ministry's proof that the person at the keyboard is the person who holds the number.
Keep the letter. If it has gone missing — and it frequently has, because it arrives months before anyone needs it — the service support line at 1‑800‑262‑6524 will re-issue it. There is no way to look the identifiers up from the billing number yourself, and no one can read them out to you.
Step 3: Create a GO Secure account
GO Secure (also presented as OPS BPS Secure) is the Government of Ontario's single sign-on for ministry services. It is the login that sits in front of MCEDT.
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Go to the EDT site
Start at edt.health.gov.on.ca and choose to register a new GO Secure account.
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Use an email address you will keep
The account is yours personally and follows you between practices. A hospital address that is revoked when you move is the wrong choice; so is a shared clinic inbox.
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Record the security questions
Password resets on GO Secure depend on them, and the reset path is slower than it looks. Put the answers somewhere you will still have them in three years.
Step 4: EDT enrolment
With a GO Secure account in hand, log in and enrol for EDT services. The screen asks which of two situations applies:
- New User — you have never had EDT access. You will be asked for your billing number and the two identifiers from the registration letter.
- Migrating EDT User — you already had an older EDT account and are moving it onto GO Secure. You will be asked for the existing EDT user ID as well.
Choosing the wrong one is the most common place this step stalls. If you have ever submitted an electronic claim in Ontario, even years ago under a different practice, you are migrating, not new.
Step 5: Designate who submits for you
This is the step that connects billing software. A designee is a person or organisation you authorise to upload claim files and download reports using your MCEDT account. You add them from within your own MCEDT profile.
A few points that cause trouble later:
- Designation is per physician, not per practice. Joining a group does not designate you.
- You can have more than one designee, and you can remove one at any time. This is what makes switching billing software straightforward — see switching OHIP billing software.
- Removing a designee stops future submissions but does not withdraw claims already sent.
What the designation actually grants. Upload of claim files, download of claims error reports and remittance advices, and the batch-edit and inquiry functions that depend on them. It does not grant access to your bank account, and the EFT destination is set with the ministry separately.
What happens after you are registered
Once enrolment and designation are complete, the mechanics become routine:
- Claim files are uploaded to MCEDT, usually in daily batches.
- Within a day or so, a claims error report comes back listing anything the ministry's file validation refused. These are rejections, not reductions, and they never reach adjudication — see common OHIP claim rejections.
- Monthly, a Remittance Advice is released for the adjudicated claims — see how to read an OHIP Remittance Advice.
- Files stay available for download for a limited period, then stop being listed. Anything not retrieved in time has to be requested from the ministry.
That last point is the strongest practical argument for software over manual retrieval. An unretrieved remittance file is not a lost payment, but it is a blind spot in your reconciliation, and blind spots are where unpaid claims sit until they stale-date.
IntelAGENT is your MCEDT designee
Registration is a one-time piece of ministry paperwork. What happens afterwards — files out, reports back, every cycle — is the part that decides whether you get paid.
IntelAGENT is set up as your MCEDT designee during onboarding. After that, claim files go out and error reports and remittance advices come back automatically, with each returned line matched to the claim that produced it. You keep your own GO Secure account and your own billing number — the designation can be removed by you at any time, without involving us.
Onboarding walks through the designation screens with you. If you are still waiting on a billing number or a registration letter, you can set up an account and build your patient roster in the meantime; nothing transmits until the designation is live.
Three months free, then 0.25% of paid claims, capped at $39.99 a month. IntelAGENT has submitted OHIP claims since 2016 for more than 2,000 Ontario physicians.
Frequently asked questions
Can my billing company register for MCEDT on my behalf?
No. The physician must complete the GO Secure and EDT enrolment personally, because the ministry ties the account to the individual who holds the billing number. Once enrolment is finished, the physician can designate a billing service or software provider to upload claims and download reports on their behalf. The designation step is the one that can be delegated; the registration itself is not.
What do I need before I can register for MCEDT?
An OHIP billing number issued by the Ministry of Health, and the registration letter the ministry sends with two unique identifiers printed on it. Without the billing number there is nothing to register, and without the letter the EDT enrolment screen cannot verify you.
I lost my MCEDT registration letter. What now?
Call the ministry's service support line at 1-800-262-6524 and ask for the registration letter to be re-issued. The two identifiers on it cannot be read out over the phone in place of the letter, and they are not recoverable from your billing number alone.
How long does MCEDT registration take?
The online steps take under an hour once you have the billing number and the letter in hand. The waiting is upstream: the billing number itself and the mailed registration letter are issued by the ministry on its own timeline, and that is usually measured in weeks rather than days.
Sources
- Medical Claims Electronic Data Transfer (MCEDT) — Ontario Ministry of Health.
- MCEDT Reference Manual (PDF) — Ontario Ministry of Health.
- Electronic Data Transfer sign-in — Government of Ontario.
Ministry registration steps and contact numbers change from time to time. Confirm the current process on the ministry's own pages before starting.
Related reading
How to start billing OHIP
The whole arc from billing number to first paid claim, in order.
GuideHow to read an OHIP Remittance Advice
What comes back once your claims are adjudicated, and the four checks worth doing.
GuideSwitching OHIP billing software
What actually has to move, and what stays with the ministry.
ProductOnboarding with IntelAGENT
We walk the MCEDT designation screens with you.