1. A system for processing claim data related to provision of healthcare to a patient, comprising: a claim data collator for collating data related to a claim for a particular patient for submission to a payer; a source of rules for use in processing collated claim data; a pre-processor for submitting said collated claim data for processing using said rules to validate said collated claim data is in condition for processing to initiate generation of payment; and a claim processor, for submitting said collated claim data to a payer, in response to successful validation by said pre-processor.