Payment posting services
Payment posting is recording what each payer and patient paid against the claim it belongs to, along with the adjustments and what the patient still owes.
Remittance advice
Payer · four claim lines
- 99214 · Office visit$102.72
- 99213 · Office visit$62.10
- 80053 · Metabolic panel$0.00
- 97110 × 2 · Therapeutic exercise$0.00
CO-45
The charge was more than the payer allows. CO means a contractual obligation: the patient can’t be billed for it.
Posted: As a contractual adjustment, after checking the allowed amount against your contract or fee schedule.
ERA or EOB? Both explain a payment.
A payer explains what it paid, and why, in one of two forms. Both are posted to the claim the same way.
ERA
The electronic remittance advice: the payer’s explanation of a payment as an electronic file (the 835), which can be matched to claims and posted electronically.
EOB
The explanation of benefits: the same information on paper or as a PDF, from payers that don’t send ERAs. It is read and posted by hand.
What goes wrong in payment posting?
Payments on the wrong claim
A payment posted to the wrong patient, visit or line, so one balance looks paid and another looks owed.
Underpayments nobody notices
A payer pays less than your contract or fee schedule says, and the difference is adjusted off as if it were expected.
Denials hidden in a remittance
A line paid at zero on an ERA is a denial, and if it is simply posted, nobody works it.
Patient balances that are wrong
Deductible, coinsurance and copay amounts posted wrongly, so patients are billed too much or too little.
Deposits that don’t reconcile
What was posted doesn’t match what reached the bank, and nobody can say which is right.
How payment posting works
Match each payment to its claim
ERAs and EOBs are matched to the claim and the line they pay, patient by patient.
Post payments and adjustments
Each payment, contractual adjustment and patient responsibility is posted with the payer’s reason codes, so the balance left is the balance owed.
Check what was paid against what was expected
Payments are compared with the amount your contract or fee schedule allows, and underpayments are flagged.
Send denials to be worked
Lines the payer denied are routed to denial management, not posted and forgotten.
Reconcile with your deposits
What was posted is checked against what reached your bank, so every payment due is accounted for.
Related billing services
Payment posting questions
What is payment posting in medical billing?
What do the codes on a remittance mean?
How do you find underpayments?
Do you post paper EOBs as well as ERAs?
Find out whether your payers are paying what they should.
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