Dental claims software prepares each insurance claim and checks it before it is sent. Elva builds every claim from what was charted, adds the x-rays, perio charts and narrative the payer needs, and your team confirms each one until you decide Elva can submit on its own.
Nothing is submitted during training without a person confirming it. Autopilot is your switch, and it turns off in one step.
The 2024 CAQH Index puts a dental office's cost of submitting a claim at $3.64 by hand and $2.71 electronically, and says those figures leave out the time spent gathering what goes into the claim.1 That gathering is the work: finding the right x-ray, checking the date on the perio chart, writing the narrative from the clinical note, and catching the procedure that never made it onto a claim. Across dental, claim submission is 21% of total administrative spend, the second-highest share.1 At 10 claims a day and about 8 minutes each, that is more than 80 minutes a day, for example.
Most claims start as a draft in the practice system at checkout, or as a blank one someone creates by hand. Turning that into a claim the payer will pay means going back to the chart, the imaging and the clinical note, usually between phone calls and patients at the desk.
Nobody misses an attachment on purpose. But at this volume, with the phone ringing, small gaps get through, and each one comes back weeks later as a rejection or a denial that someone has to work all over again.
The work is careful, repetitive and easy to interrupt. That is the part Elva takes on.
It reads the procedures completed in your practice system. Where the system already made a draft, Elva reviews it; where there is no claim, Elva creates one. It attaches the x-rays, perio charts and other documents the payer needs, drafts the narrative from the clinical note and x-ray, and applies the fixes it's sure of, listing each one with Undo.
Each claim opens on Elva's Claims page. Edit anything, undo any change, answer any real decision Elva couldn't make, then confirm. Elva writes the changes back to your practice system and submits the claim through it. When you correct something, Elva tells you what it learned and asks whether that applies from now on or was a one-off.
After about 200 confirmed claims, Elva suggests autopilot once. Your practice turns it on, and can turn it off in one step. Even then, each payer and procedure type needs its own small number of confirmed claims before autopilot covers it. On autopilot, Elva only sends back the claims it holds, each with a reason in words.
Elva does the preparing. Your team makes the decisions.
Elva reviews your practice system's own draft, or creates the claim when completed procedures have none.
X-rays, perio charts and prior claims attached by Elva, each listed once with its date and where it came from.
Drafted from the note and the x-ray, with the source shown. Edit it or ask Elva to rewrite it.
Every fix is listed with its reason, such as a missing tooth number or the approved pre-auth number. Undo any one.
When a claim turns on a clinical or practice judgement, Elva asks with two or three clear options. The claim waits for your answer.
No checkboxes and no "confirm all", during training or on autopilot.
Elva suggests it once, after about 200 confirmed claims. You turn it on, and off, yourself.
On autopilot, a claim that comes back says why: a new payer, too few confirmed claims for that payer and procedure, or a decision only you can make.
A clearinghouse rejection comes back fixed, as a new claim. Secondary claims are prepared when the primary has paid, and reviewed the same way.
In a 20-minute demo we walk through how Elva would prepare the claims your practice sends every day, and show what your team sees before anything goes out.
Elva's claims automation works with Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, Denticon and CareStack, and every feature on this page is available on all seven. It reads the procedures, drafts, imaging and notes in your practice system and writes every claim back into it.
Your clearinghouse and your records stay as they are: claims go out through your practice system. Your team works on Elva's Claims page and never has to open the claim in the practice system to fix it.
Authorized API Partner
Official API Vendor Partner
| By hand | With Elva | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting the claim | Typed in, or the checkout draft checked by eye | Prepared from what was charted |
| Unbilled procedures | Found when someone runs the report | A claim created for completed procedures that have none |
| Attachments | Found in imaging and attached one at a time | Attached where the payer needs them, with date and source |
| Narratives | Written from the clinical note between other tasks | Drafted from the note and x-ray; you edit or rewrite |
| Fixes | Often found when the claim comes back | Applied before submission, each listed with Undo |
| Rejections | Worked from the rejection report | Back on the Claims page, fixed, as a new claim |
| Secondary claims | Sent when someone notices the primary paid | Prepared when the primary has paid, and reviewed the same way |
| Who decides | The person at the desk, for everything | Elva handles what it is sure of; your team makes the clinical and practice calls |
The chart, the x-rays and the note are fresh, and the person who saw the patient is still in the building.
Most practice systems can list completed procedures that have no claim. Anything on it is money nobody has asked for yet.
Which payers want x-rays, perio charts or a narrative for crowns, build-ups and periodontal work. Update it every time a claim comes back for a missing document.
Payers can turn down a chart they consider too old. Check the payer's rule, and if the chart is out of date, decide whether to wait for a new one.
Name the tooth, the finding and why the treatment was needed, in the dentist's own words. Don't add a finding the note doesn't support.
A rejection never reached the payer: fix it and send it again the same day. A denial is the payer's answer, and needs its own review.
Attach the primary's EOB, and the claim is usually ready to go.
Many claim problems start with the wrong plan or a change of insurance. Verifying insurance before the appointment catches them while the patient is still in the chair.
A clean claim is one the payer accepts and processes on the first submission, with no errors, missing attachments or back-and-forth. Most clean-claim problems start earlier, with the wrong plan or a change of insurance, which is why verifying insurance before the visit comes first.
Not during training. Every claim waits on the Claims page until a person confirms it, one at a time. After about 200 confirmed claims, Elva suggests autopilot, and your practice decides whether to turn it on. Even then, each payer and procedure type needs its own small number of confirmed claims before autopilot covers it. You can turn autopilot off in one step; new claims then wait for you again.
You see exactly what Elva did. Each claim lists the changes Elva made, with the reason and an Undo for each, the attachments with their dates and sources, and where the narrative came from. Elva doesn't show a score or a percentage, and it doesn't decide whether a treatment was clinically necessary. Your team reviews every claim until it has seen enough to trust Elva, and that decision is yours.
You keep your clearinghouse, your ERA enrollment and your records: claims go out through your practice system. And no, you don't fix things in two places. Your team edits on the Claims page. When you confirm, Elva writes the changes back to your practice system, then submits the claim through it. If the practice system can't be updated, nothing is submitted, and the claim stays on the page with the reason.
A clearinghouse rejection means the claim never reached the payer, so there is nothing to appeal. It comes back to the Claims page, fixed, like a new claim. A denial is the payer's answer and is handled separately: see denials management.
It asks a plain question with two or three options, such as whether to attach an older perio chart, hold the claim until the patient is charted again, or bill without it. The claim can't be confirmed until someone answers. If the narrative needs something that isn't in the clinical record, Elva asks the dentist first. A person is asked only after Elva has tried every channel it has, and the item shows every try. After you change a claim, Elva says what it learned and where it would apply it, for example to one payer's crown claims. You answer "That's right" or "This was a one-off". Elva never turns a single edit into a rule without asking.
When the primary has paid, Elva prepares the secondary claim with the primary's EOB attached. It goes through the same review as any other claim, and on autopilot follows the same rules. Reviewers from a billing company use the same Claims page, and every confirmation, edit, undo and hold is recorded with the person and their organization.
Elva's team sets it up. Before go-live, we review your claim history, digest your payers' rules and set up portal access and payer settings. Elva signs in to payer portals itself; one-time sign-in codes go to Elva's own phone number and email, never to a person on your team. There is no self-serve setup. Elva signs a business associate agreement with every practice, and the practice owner signs a separate claims and appeals authorization before Elva sends anything for the practice.
Book a 20-minute demo and we'll walk through how Elva would prepare the claims your practice sends every day.
1 CAQH, 2024 CAQH Index (2023 data). Dental electronic adoption for claim submission: 90 percent. Dental provider cost per claim submission: $3.64 manual and $2.71 electronic, with the note that these costs exclude the time and cost of gathering information for the transaction and follow-up. Claim submission: 21 percent of total annual dental administrative spend, the second-highest share. caqh.org
2 Zentist, Dental RCM Trends & Insights 2026, a survey of more than 160 revenue cycle and insurance billing professionals, reported by Becker's Dental Review, 24 February 2026, as nearly 80 percent of practices reporting an increase in claim denials or payer scrutiny over the past 12 months. A vendor survey. beckersdental.com
Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, Denticon and CareStack are trademarks of their respective owners.
