A sourced guide to ERA, EFT, claim-level posting, adjustments, deposit matching, and payment exceptions in dental RCM.
Understand the roles of ERA and EFT
An electronic remittance advice, commonly exchanged through the 835 transaction, explains how a payer processed one or more claims. The electronic funds transfer moves the money. The two records are related, but they are not interchangeable.
CMS notes that EFT and ERA can streamline manual processes, speed the provider revenue cycle, and support automatic posting to accounts receivable.
Post at the claim and patient-account level
Posting rules should be explicit. Automation should not invent an adjustment or close a balance when the remittance cannot be matched confidently.
- Match the remittance to the correct claims
- Post payer payments to the correct balances
- Apply approved contractual adjustments
- Preserve reason codes for later follow-up
- Route uncertain items instead of forcing a match
Reconcile the remittance to the deposit
The ADA's 2026 EFT checklist describes the reassociation trace number as a common way to match an EFT with its corresponding ERA. The practice should also confirm that the deposit received matches the remittance and posted activity.
- Identify missing or delayed deposits
- Flag duplicate or unmatched remittances
- Compare claim-level totals with the payment
- Keep an exception owner and next action
Finish with an exception queue
A payment workflow is complete when clean items are posted and every exception is visible. Missing deposits, paper checks, scanned remittances, partial matches, and uncertain adjustments should not disappear into a general inbox.
Lavender fetches EFT information or reads scanned checks, posts approved payments and adjustments, and reconciles activity against the practice's bank account according to configured rules.
