Dental EOB posting is recording each insurance payment in your practice system, per procedure: what the insurer paid, the write-off and what the patient owes. Elva reads each insurance payment that reaches your practice system and posts it that way, checks every posting it writes, and works out the odd payments before anyone has to look.
Your team confirms each posting until it trusts Elva, and any posting can be undone.
An ERA arriving on its own is not a payment posted on its own. Your practice system stops on claims it can't find, lines that don't match what was billed, and money taken back and paid again, and someone works each one by hand. In the 2024 CAQH Index (2023 data), dental providers reported a cost of $3.70 for each remittance advice handled by hand and $1.73 for an electronic one, and a saving of about 3 minutes per remittance by going electronic.1 At 10 payments a day and 3 minutes each, that is 30 minutes a day, every working day, for example.
Most payments post without trouble. The ones that don't are a claim number the payer cut short, a crown paid as a cheaper crown, or a cleaning paid, taken back and paid again in the same file.
Each one means opening the ERA, the claim and sometimes the payer's portal, working out what happened, then typing the paid amount and the write-off on every procedure. Then the phone rings, and the batch waits.
None of this is anyone's fault. It is what careful work looks like at this volume.
For each procedure it lays out what the insurer paid, the write-off and what the patient owes, and the three always add up to the fee. When something is odd, Elva works out what happened first. If the ERA isn't enough, it signs in to the payer's portal itself, and calls the payer if the portal doesn't have the answer, before asking anyone. Then it asks at most one question, with the likely answer shown.
During training your team confirms each posting on Elva's Posting page, one at a time, including the ones with nothing to decide. Nothing is posted during training without a person confirming it. Elva then posts in your practice system and reads it back: claim status, amounts and the patient's balance. A posting that doesn't check out is reversed and comes back to you with the reason.
After about 100 confirmed postings, Elva suggests autopilot once, and the practice turns it on or off itself. Each kind of payment (claim not found, paid as a different procedure, taken back and paid again, and the others) needs 5 confirmed before autopilot covers it. On autopilot, Elva only sends back what it holds, each with a reason in words.
You confirm until you trust it. Then it runs.
Elva reads each insurance payment that reaches your practice system, including ones the system posted on its own.
Paid, write-off, adjustments and what the patient owes, per procedure, adding up to the fee.
Elva puts the payment next to the claim that fits (patient, member ID, visit date, fee) and asks one question: is this the claim?
Flagged in words, with what the patient will now owe, and a choice: post it this way, appeal it, or say something is wrong.
Elva finds out why, from the ERA, the payer's portal or a call, then posts both lines in the right order once you confirm.
Paid lines posted and the claim left open; the order of plans checked; a closed claim reopened, posted and closed again.
Once the primary is posted, Elva prepares the secondary claim with the primary's EOB attached; it goes through Claims like any other claim.
Elva reads your practice system back after each posting and reverses one that doesn't check out.
Every posting listed with its lines, the balance before and after, who confirmed it, every step with its time, and Undo.
See Elva work through payments from your own payers in a 20-minute demo, and show what your team sees when one is odd.
Elva's insurance posting 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 payments where they already land and writes postings into the same ledger your team uses, so there is no second set of books.
Your clearinghouse and your ERA enrollment stay exactly as they are; Elva reads payments through your practice system and does not receive ERAs itself. Matching posted payments to your bank deposits is its own step, covered on insurance deposit reconciliation.
Authorized API Partner
Official API Vendor Partner
| By hand | With Elva | |
|---|---|---|
| Reading payments | Someone opens each ERA in the practice system | Elva reads every payment as it reaches your practice system |
| Claim not found | Search by name, date and fee until one fits | The likely claim shown side by side, with one question |
| Paid as a different procedure | Spotted line by line, if there is time | Flagged in words, with what the patient will now owe |
| Taken back and paid again | Work out both lines; call the payer if it's unclear | Elva finds out why from the portal or a call, then posts both lines in order |
| Write-offs and adjustments | Typed per procedure | Prepared per procedure, adding up to the fee |
| Checking the result | Trust that the posting went in right | Read back after every posting; reversed if it does not check out |
| Secondary claim | Remember to send it after the primary posts | Prepared with the primary's EOB attached, through Claims |
| The record | What the ledger shows | Every posting with who confirmed it, every step with its time, and Undo |
CAQH's 2024 Index notes that more dental offices are taking remittances from both ERAs and payer portals, and says this suggests duplicate postings are occurring. Decide which copy you post from, and mark the other as seen.
A payment spread across the claim hides which procedure was cut, and makes a later appeal harder.
Paid plus write-off plus what the patient owes should equal the fee on each line. If it doesn't, stop and find out why before you post.
When a payer takes a payment back and pays it again, enter the takeback first, then the new payment, so the balance is right in between.
A crown paid as a cheaper crown may follow the plan, but it changes what the patient owes. Let the patient know early.
Posting it as a loose credit leaves the claim looking unpaid in one place and paid in another.
Attach the primary's EOB so the secondary payer sees what was already paid.
Interest a payer adds belongs to the practice, not to any patient's balance.
Insurance payment posting is recording each insurer payment in your practice system, per procedure: what the insurer paid, the write-off, and what the patient now owes. It works from an ERA (the electronic remittance) or a paper EOB, and the three amounts should add up to the fee. Elva does it for every payment that reaches your practice system. For the wider picture, see our guide to dental payment posting automation.
During training your team confirms every posting before it goes in. After each posting Elva reads your practice system back and checks the claim status, the amounts and the patient's balance; if they don't match, Elva reverses the posting and brings it back with the reason. Any posting, on training or autopilot, can be undone from the Posted report, and Elva reverses it in your practice system the same way.
Your team decides the judgment calls: whether a payment belongs to a claim when it isn't clear, whether to post a downgrade or appeal it, whether to dispute a takeback. Elva works out the facts first and asks one question per payment. Elva posts on its own only when the practice turns autopilot on. It suggests it once, after about 100 confirmed postings, and each kind of payment needs 5 confirmed before autopilot covers it. An owner or admin can turn it off in one step. Elva won't dispute a payment or ask a payer to reprocess without a person deciding, and it won't change what the dentist charted.
Automatic posting stops on the payments that take the time: claims it can't find, lines that don't match, reversals. Elva works those out. It also reads the payments your system posted on its own and checks each against what the claim should have paid.
No. Elva reads payments through your practice system, so your clearinghouse and your ERA enrollment stay as they are. Elva's team does the setup: before go-live we review your practice's history, learn your payers' rules, set up portal access and payer settings, and connect to your practice system. There is no self-serve setup.
A payment that follows the plan (a downgrade, a frequency limit, the yearly maximum, coinsurance) isn't an underpayment: Elva posts it, and the patient owes the difference. A claim paid $0, or less than the plan should have paid, goes to Denied & underpaid, where Elva prepares the next step. See denial management. Differences under $5 aren't chased.
Yes, when the ERA isn't enough. Elva signs in to payer portals itself; even one-time sign-in codes go to Elva's own phone number and email, never to a person on your team. Every call Elva makes opens by saying it is Elva, an automated assistant calling for your practice, and that the call is recorded. A person is asked only after Elva has tried every channel it has, and the item shows every try. Elva signs a business associate agreement with every practice.
They join the same Posting list as ERAs. Paper EOBs come in through Document Center and are posted the same way, one check at a time, and a check is closed only when it balances. Virtual card payments are posted once the card has been charged. See EOB processing.
See Elva work through payments from your own payers in a 20-minute demo.
1 CAQH, 2024 CAQH Index (2023 data), dental section. Provider cost per remittance advice: $3.70 manual and $1.73 electronic. Dental providers could save about 3 minutes per remittance by going electronic. The Remittance Advice section notes that the increase in portal and ERA use suggests duplicate postings are occurring. caqh.org
Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Curve Dental, Denticon and CareStack are trademarks of their respective owners.
