Notes
Insurance posting, explained plainly.
What we have learned reading insurance payments for a working dental practice. No theory, no invented numbers.
Sep 13, 2026
CO, PR, OA and PI: what the adjustment codes on a dental EOB mean for your ledger
Every adjustment on a dental EOB or ERA carries a two-letter group code. CO means the practice absorbs it, PR means the patient owes it, and the same reason code can sit under either. Here is how to read them so the write-off lands in the right place.
Sep 13, 2026
How insurance payment posting works in Open Dental, and where the time goes
What actually happens when an insurance payment is posted in Open Dental: the claim, the procedures on it, the payment by procedure or as a total, the batch for a group check, and the ERAs Open Dental can process on its own. Plus the part that still takes a person.
Sep 13, 2026
Why an insurance payment does not balance: where the money usually is
The check is smaller than the EOB, or the EOB is bigger than the claim, or a line paid zero for no reason you can see. Eight places the difference is usually hiding, and what each one looks like on the page.
Sep 7, 2026
EOB vs ERA: what the difference actually means for your front desk
An EOB and an ERA say the same thing in two different formats. Which one you get decides whether posting takes ten seconds or ten minutes, and why most dental practices still get both.