Open Dental Forum

Is there a way to import an explanation of benefits (835) document that we receive automatically from the clearinghouse in version 14.2 to the batch insurance window like we do with scanned or saved EOBs?

You can download and print them. More functionality is currently being worked on. But so far it's pretty sweet. The guy working on the project is pretty stoked about the whole ordeal. It's fun listening to him describe it all. It should make your life mucho easier. Hopefully no front desk workers loose their jobs

Here's some light reading for you:
http://www.opendental.com/manual/claimsERA835.html

I really like what we have so far in version 14.2. Can't wait to see the day that we can reconcile 835s by clicking on a button. We'll probably still have to manually reconcile when the payment doesn't match with what was expected, but if we get a report of the differences at some point in the proccess it should be great.

I use Dentalexchange as my clearing house. What does one need to do to start receiving 835 's? Do I need to register for receiving direct deposit on each insurance company website first? Metlife offers the ability to sign up for just direct deposit or ERA. Is Open Dental far enough along for me to sign up on the Metlife website for ERA's yet?

It's new on version 14.2. If your clearinghouse has the capability to send these and other documents, you will receive them in the "Send Claims" window. I get 835s, 277s, acknowledgements and text reports.

I am using version 14.2 now for some time. Why am I not getting 835's from Dentaexchange? Do I need to set something up on my end or notify them?

Any thoughts?...

I don't know, since I use a different clearinghouse. Maybe they have to set something up at your clearinghouse. Jason at Open Dental might be able to help.

Oh wow, that's a pretty good question. I'm only familiar with how Open Dental digests and displays the results of 835s, not how to indicate to your clearinghouse to send them to us. I heard that some carriers don't support 835s yet which is kind of depressing.

I'll ask around here to see if anyone knows. You might get quicker results if you give DentalXChange a call and see if there's anything special you need to do in order for them to send 835s instead of just 999s or 997s (I'm assuming you're at least getting acknowledgments)

Spoke with Dentalexchange...I will fill out the paperwork to receive 835's through their website. They said they currently cannot send 835's back to OD however because OD doesn't have the ability yet. Sounds like OD needs to contact DentalExchange?

Jason...

So after I get an EOB sent from Dentalexchange into OD (see above post), can I save a copy of it attached to the claim without printing it and scanning it back into OD?

That's my original question. I found a work-around. If you have any software that installs a "print to file" printer in your system, you can choose that printer and basically create a document that you can import into the payment in batch insurance. Some software programs that can do that are Microsoft Office and some .pdf viewers.

jsalmon wrote:You can download and print them. More functionality is currently being worked on. But so far it's pretty sweet. The guy working on the project is pretty stoked about the whole ordeal. It's fun listening to him describe it all. It should make your life mucho easier. Hopefully no front desk workers loose their jobs

Here's some light reading for you:
http://www.opendental.com/manual/claimsERA835.html

Please let this guy know that his work is much appreciated. I wish we could add some more votes and pledges to this feature request, but it's marked "in progress" which blocks out further voting. The truth is I believe every dentist in Puerto Rico is as anxious as I am waiting for the day we can reconcile payments with the click of a button in Open Dental like they have done in the past with Inmediata's Dental Max. Once this feature is working I bet Open Dental will dominate the dental software market in Puerto Rico.

Dr. Pruce-

Check out CutePDF writer. It's free, and will allow you to print anything to a PDF file.

http://www.cutepdf.com

Another work-around is to use windows' snipping tool to capture an image of the 835 as displayed by Open Dental, then import that into the payment. The advantage with this is that you get lots more information than what you get from the print version.

Ducklink Screen Capture works good and also free. It even lets you scroll the whole window just in case the content is really long.

Be careful with those 835s. We just realized that the clearinghouse might combine more than one 835 into a single file in violation of the X-12 standard. Until we release the bug fix next week, Open Dental will only see and process the first 835 that it sees in the file.

is there anyone that could share which clearinghouses support this feature?

The bug that Jordan mentioned above has been fixed and released in version 14.2.15 and greater.

We know this feature works with Dentalxchange (ClaimConnect), Inmediata, and when using a direct carrier connection to Denti-Cal. I also believe a connection to WebMD is possible, but I have not heard of anyone trying it yet.

For ClaimConnect in particular, you have to manually download the 835s from the Dentalxchange web portal and into the Report Path in order for Open Dental to find the reports. See the bottom of the troubleshooting section on our ClaimConnect page for details. http://opendental.com/manual/eclaimsclaimconnect.html.

Emdeon/WebMD may support this feature. I do not know of a customer who has this working yet, but I believe WebMD will download reports into a local folder, and you can point the Report Path in the Open Dental clearinghouse setup window to the same folder.

This feature will also work with any clearinghouse or direct carrier connection that supports 835s and provides a way for the user to download the 835s. No matter what clearinghouse you are using, Open Dental always looks in the "Report Path" for any and all reports, including 835s. The only tricky part is getting the 835s into the Report Path to begin with. In the case of ClaimConnect, they have provided a way to download 835s from their website. Other clearinghouses might have similar options, or might automatically save reports to a folder on your computer like WebMD does.