Upload a statement export.
Download your bank statement from your bank's website as a CSV file and upload it to the Bank deposits tab in Posting. Elva keeps only the insurance deposits and discards every other line at upload.
Deposit reconciliation
Dental insurance payment reconciliation, every deposit tied out
Dental insurance payment reconciliation is matching each insurance deposit in your bank to the payments posted in your practice system. Elva does the matching, shows you only the deposits that don't tie, with the reason already worked out, and follows every paper check until a statement shows it in the bank.
Elva never posts from a bank line. Every posting comes from the payer's remittance, and your team confirms each one until you turn on autopilot.
3business days: how far before or after the money a payer may send the ERA1
2bank statements a posted paper check can be missing from before Elva asks a person
100postings your team confirms before Elva suggests autopilot
5confirmed takebacks, and 5 confirmed interest payments, before autopilot posts either on its own
The hidden cost
Why Insurance Deposits and Postings Don't Tie
An electronic insurance payment comes in two pieces. The money lands in your bank. The remittance that says which patients it covers comes through your clearinghouse, and payers may send it up to three business days before or after the money.1 So someone sets the statement beside the payment report and ticks deposits off one by one. Most tie. The time goes on the few that don't: money nobody posted, a posting with no money behind it, a deposit a few dollars off.
Reading Every Statement Line to Find the Few That Matter
The bank statement doesn't say which patients a deposit was for, and the payment report doesn't say which day the money landed. Tying them means matching trace numbers by eye, or amounts and dates for paper checks, with payroll, rent and supply orders on the lines in between.
When a deposit doesn't tie, the real work starts. Find out who paid, sign in to the payer's portal, call when the portal has nothing, then work out how to post a takeback or interest that belongs to no single patient. It gets done between patients, and it waits when the phones are busy.
- Money with nothing posted sits in the bank until someone finds the remittance.
- A posting with no money behind it can mean the payment went to an account nobody watches.
- Takebacks and interest change a deposit's total without matching any one claim.
- A paper check that was posted but never deposited stays out of sight until someone goes looking.
None of this is anyone's fault: two records that should agree arrive at different times, by different routes.
The solution
Automated Insurance Deposit Reconciliation — How It Works
Elva ties each deposit to what was posted.
Electronic deposits are matched to the payments posted in your practice system by trace number and amount. Paper checks are matched by amount and date. Deposits that tie are set aside.
You see only what doesn't tie.
Each one comes with the reason worked out: money with nothing posted, a posting with no money, an amount that differs, or a paper check that never reached the bank.
The bank says the money arrived. The remittance says what it was for. Elva checks that they agree.
Deposit reconciliation tools
Everything You Need to Close Out Your Insurance Deposits
Statement upload
Upload a CSV export from your bank. Elva works out which column is which and remembers it for your bank.
Insurance deposits only
Every line that isn't an insurance deposit is discarded at upload.
Deposit-to-posting match
Each deposit tied to posted payments by trace number and amount.
Paper check tracking
Every check received, whether it's posted, and whether a statement shows it deposited.
Missing remittances fetched
Elva gets the remittance from the payer's portal, or calls the payer when the portal doesn't have it.
Missing money traced
Elva checks the portal and calls the payer, and keeps the call recording and transcript.
Takebacks and interest
Explained in words, then posted on the right claim, or as interest, once you confirm.
The deposit on every posting
Every posting shows which deposit it ties to, or that no statement covers it yet.
Human in the loop
Only what Elva couldn't settle on its own, with every try shown.
Stop Ticking Off Bank Lines by Hand
In a 20-minute demo we walk through a month of deposits with your own payers, show how each deposit ties out, and show what your team sees when one doesn't.
Seamless integration
Works with Your Practice Management System
Elva's deposit reconciliation 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 insurance payments posted in your practice system and writes its own postings and fixes back into it.
Your clearinghouse and ERA enrollment stay as they are: Elva reads payments through your practice system and does not receive ERAs itself. Your bank stays as it is too. You upload a statement export, and Elva doesn't sign in to your bank.
Elva
Reconciliation engine
Two-way sync · Checked after every posting
Authorized API Partner
Official API Vendor Partner
Systems supported
Dentrix
Dentrix Ascend
Open Dental
Eaglesoft
Curve Dental
Denticon
CareStack
What the Connection Does
- Reads the insurance payments posted in your practice system.
- Writes its postings and fixes back, on the right claim.
- Checks every posting by reading your system back, and reverses anything that doesn't check out.
- Elva sets it up for you before go-live.
How Much Staff Time Goes Into Reconciling Insurance Deposits?
Compare
Why Automated Deposit Reconciliation Beats Ticking Off Statements
| By hand | With Elva | |
|---|---|---|
| Matching deposits | Statement beside the payment report, line by line | Each insurance deposit tied to what was posted |
| What you look at | Every line on the statement | Only the deposits that don't tie |
| Money with nothing posted | Find who paid, sign in to the portal, download the remittance | Elva gets the remittance and prepares the postings |
| Posted with no money | Call the payer and find out where the money went | Elva checks the portal and calls; you answer one question |
| Takebacks and interest | Work out which claim, and how to post it | Explained in words, posted once you confirm |
| Paper checks | Checked against deposit slips when there's time | Each check followed until a statement shows it deposited |
| A check that never arrives | Found when someone goes looking | Missing from two statements after posting: sent to Human in the loop |
| The record | Notes on the statement | Every portal visit and call in Elva's log; every posting shows its deposit |
Best practices
Eight Habits for Reconciling Dental Insurance Deposits
1
Reconcile on a schedule.
Pick a day each week, or reconcile each time you download a statement. Differences are easier to trace while they are recent.
2
Match by trace number first.
Payers put the same trace number on the electronic payment and on its ERA.1 It ties a deposit to its remittance more reliably than an amount.
3
Ask your bank to show the trace number.
Banks aren't required to pass it on with the deposit, so providers are told to contact their bank to arrange it.1
4
Expect a few days' gap.
The ERA can arrive up to three business days before or after the money.1 Wait that long before treating either one as missing.
5
Post from the remittance, never from the deposit.
A deposit is one total with no per-patient breakdown. Posting from it puts money on the wrong accounts.
6
Log every paper check the day it arrives.
Payer, check number, amount and date. Tick it off when the deposit appears on a statement.
7
Keep takebacks and interest off patient accounts.
Post a takeback against the claim it came from, and interest as interest, so patient balances stay right.
8
When an ERA shows paid but no money arrived, check the account.
Ask the payer which account the payment went to. An old account on the payer's EFT enrollment is one possible reason.
What's included
Everything Included in Deposit Reconciliation
- The Bank deposits tab in Posting: deposits that don't tie, with the reason worked out, and the ones that do, set aside.
- Statement upload from a CSV export, keeping only insurance deposits.
- Deposit-to-posting matching: electronic deposits by trace number and amount, paper checks by amount and date.
- Missing remittances and missing money handled through the payer's portal and a call, with the recording, transcript and reference number kept.
- Takebacks and interest explained in words and posted once you confirm. Every posting is checked by reading your practice system back, and can be undone.
- Paper check tracking in Document Center, and Human in the loop for what Elva can't settle, with every try shown.
- Part of Elva RCM. Setup by Elva's team before go-live.
Frequently asked
Deposit Reconciliation FAQs
Can Elva post payments from my bank statement?
No. A deposit is one total with no per-patient breakdown, so Elva never writes a ledger entry from a bank line. Postings come from the payer's remittance, the ERA or the EOB. The bank statement is only for checking that the money matches what was posted. Posting itself is covered on Insurance payment and EOB posting. Patient balances belong to Accounts receivable.
Which practice management systems does it work with?
Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, Denticon and CareStack. Everything on this page works on all seven. Elva reads the insurance payments posted in your practice system, writes its postings and fixes back, and reads your system back after every posting to check the result.
How does Elva know which deposit goes with which payment?
Payers put the same trace number on an electronic payment and on its ERA.1 Elva matches each electronic deposit to posted payments by trace number and amount. A paper check deposit doesn't name the payer on the bank line, so checks are matched by amount and date.
What happens when money arrives and nothing was posted?
Elva signs in to the payer's portal and downloads the remittance. If the portal doesn't have it, Elva calls the payer. One-time sign-in codes for payer portals go to Elva's own phone number and email, never to a person. The claims on that remittance then go to Posting, where Elva posts them from the remittance under the same review as any other payment. You see what Elva did, step by step, and you're never asked to fetch anything yourself.
What happens when a payment was posted but the money never arrived?
Elva checks the payer's portal and calls the payer to find out where the money went, then shows you the call recording, the transcript and the reference number. Elva makes these calls itself, not through the AI Receptionist, and every call opens by saying it's Elva, an automated assistant calling for your practice, and that the call is recorded. If the payment went to another of your accounts, Elva asks for that account's statement. If the account isn't yours, Elva calls the payer to stop and resend the payment, and prepares the bank-details form for signing. Stopping a payment is always a person's decision.
How are paper checks followed?
Document Center lists every paper check received, whether it is posted, and whether a bank statement shows it deposited. If a check is missing from two statements after it was posted, it goes to Human in the loop. By then Elva has checked the statements and the payer's portal, and the item shows every try. A person answers one question: you'll deposit it, it went to another account, or it can't be found.
Does Elva post anything without my team?
Not until you decide. Your team confirms about the first 100 postings, one at a time. After that Elva suggests autopilot, and the practice turns it on or off itself. Even on autopilot, each kind of payment needs its own small number confirmed first: 5 takebacks and 5 interest payments, for example. On autopilot Elva only sends back what it holds, each with a reason in words. Money with nothing posted, and postings with no money, always come to a person.
What does Elva keep from my bank statement?
Only the insurance deposits. Every other line, such as payroll, rent and supply orders, is discarded at upload. Elva also keeps a deposit whose amount equals a paper check that was posted, so the check can be tied to it. You upload a statement export from your bank's website, and Elva doesn't sign in to your bank. Elva signs a business associate agreement with every practice.
Get started
See Every Deposit Tie Out, and Only the Ones That Don't
Book a 20-minute demo and we'll walk through a month of deposits with your own payers.
20 minutesYour own payersNo commitment
Source
1 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Administrative Simplification, EFT and ERA: Payment Remittance Reassociation Basics, June 2022. Health plans must include a matching reassociation trace number in the EFT and the ERA, and must release the ERA no sooner than three business days before and no later than three business days after the payment date. Banks are not required to deliver the trace number, so plans tell providers to arrange it with their bank. cms.gov
Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, Denticon and CareStack are trademarks of their respective owners.