Electronic Remittance Advice(ERA) is an electronic version of a paper Explanation of Benefits (EOB), which allows you to auto-post payments as opposed to manually posting them.
To view and process the ERAs in the system, select Payments from the main menu, and then click on ERA Posting. ERA Listing page opens up where all ERAs received are listed with the most recent on top. Provide appropriate search parameters to filter the ERAs. ERA Date, Payer, Status, Payment#, Check# are some of the search fields. The search filters is as shown in Image 1.
ERA Listing
Table 1 explains each column of the ERA Listing in detail.
| Column | Description |
| Payer | Name of the insurance. This is a hyperlink which opens the ERA screen for posting |
| Payer ID | Unique ID of the payer |
| Check Date | The date specified in the check |
| Check Amount | The amount specified in the check |
| Check/EFT# | Check number /EFT number |
| Type | This is the Payment method Code. The different payment method codes are ACH (Automated Clearinghouse), BOP (Financial Institution Option), CHK (check payment), FWT (federal Reserve Funds/Wiretransfer-nonrepetitive), NON (Non Payment Data) |
| Payment# | The unique number created for the payment in the system |
| Payment Amount | The amount for which the payment was made |
| Unapplied Amount | The amount unapplied in the payment |
| Status | PENDING/PROCESSED/VOID. Clicking on the status will open a drop-down. To change status, select another status from the drop-down. Users can now void ERAs by selecting VOID from the drop-down. |
Open ERA  |
Opens the ERA screen in a popup page for posting |
Download  |
To download the ERA file in the system. |
Print  |
This will print all payments and reversal payments which means that all items in the claim will be printed whereas the Print option in the ERA posting screen will print only checked claims. |
Table 1
Different Options Available in the ERA Listing screen:
A. Erroneous ERAs due to syntax or semantic errors in the 835 file structure would show up in the Unsaved ERA(s) (labeled A in Image 3). Clicking on the unsaved count hyperlink will open the file information in a pop-up window.
B. ERAs can be uploaded into the system by the Upload ERA option. Click on Browse and choose the file. It can be saved through the 
button beside the Browse button (Refer to label B in Image 3).
C. The system automatically retrieves ERAs once a day. If a user wants to specifically retrieve ERAs without waiting for the next day, he can do so by the 
button available on the top right of the page (labeled C in Image 3).
D. Payment# in the report column is a hyperlink (label D in Image 3) that opens the Payment Entry screen.
E. Provider Adjustment Codes and Remark Codes will be displayed in the ERA print if you are printing from the ERA listing page. All provider adjustment codes and amounts for each adj. code will be displayed at the bottom of the remit (below the legend area)
ERA Screen
The ERA screen has the Payment Entry Section on top left, payer and payee details are displayed on top right and claims listing beneath. Filters are also provided to filter out or expand the claim selection.
Payment Section: The first step in ERA Posting is to process the payment whereby a payment entry is created. The payment entry section has fields similar to Payment Master and lets you to make a payment entry corresponding to the ERA received without having to go to Payment Master screen. On clicking the 
button, a payment number is generated. Once processed, observe the amounts displayed in the Matched Amt. and Unmatched Amt. fields. Unmatched amount corresponds to claims not submitted from PracticeSuite and such claims can never be posted from the system. Change the Payment Amt. to equal the matched Amt. and again click on . This will update the payment with the new amount. Now start the posting.
Filters:
| Filter | Description |
 |
To check and uncheck the claims easily; provide ordinal number in both fields. e.g., if the user provides the number as in the given image, claims in the position 1 to 5 will be checked |
| DOS | Provide the DOS date range |
| Include Closed Lines | If checked, closed lines of the claims will also be listed |
| Include Previously Posted | If checked, previously posted lines will be listed |
| Exclude Prior Pr. Payments and Adjustments | If checked, Primary payments and Adjustments will not be added to the paid and adjustment amounts. |
| Claim Status | To filter claims by their status: Processed as primary, Processed as Secondary, Denied, etc. |
A sample ERA page
Posting ERAs :
1. Click on the Payer or the Open ERA button of the ERA to be posted. This opens the ERA page as in Image 4.
2. Initially, each patient record in the ERA page has a 
mark to indicate that it is an unmatched claim. Click on button to create a payment entry and to match claims. Once processed, all matched claims will have a 
mark and all unmatched lines will be highlighted in Red as in Image 5.
COB Automation
When the claim status code indicated is 19 ( CoB is for a crossover claim) and if the secondary insurance indicated in the ERA is not present in the patient’s record, so as to facilitate the COB posting & to efficiently move the line(s) to secondary responsibility, the system will automatically create the secondary insurance for the patient as part of the auto-posting process.
For the above automation to occur, in the Billing Options set up page, ‘Auto create COB payer From ERA’ option should be set to YES. The adjacent field named Default COB Payer Name will have the pre-set value “Default from ERA”. Practices can change this to any payer of their choice.
If Default from ERA option is selected, the system will use the secondary insurance name and patient insurance id presented in the electronic remit to create the secondary insurance for the patient.
However, if the practice provides an insurance name in the Default COB payer name, this payer will be picked up for creating secondary payer instead of the payer in the COB info.
If the secondary insurance is already present in the patient demographics, the system will simply add insurance to the Case.
In the process of adding secondary insurance for the patient, if the insurance company is not present in the insurance master, the system will first auto-create the insurance company with generic information. Please note – users will need to complete any missing secondary insurance information in both the insurance company master and inpatient insurance records.
Negative payments
In order to prevent inadvertent auto-posting of negative amounts by users that can result in posting errors, the claim selection checkbox in the ERA screen is disabled when a negative amt. is present in the remit. Below are the couple of the negative amount ERA posting scenarios where the system will prevent selection of the claim for auto-posting –
1. If the claims status code is 22 (indicating negative payment or adjustment)
OR
2. If the Paid Amt. is a negative amount; see Image 5.1
However, if the sum of adjustments is a negative value, the claim can be selected for posting but the system will display a warning in the ERA posting screen. Users will need to make necessary corrections and post the ERA.
Exception: ERAs with CO-144 and OA-94 negative adjustments can be auto-posted.
3. Click on 
button. The ERA Posting screen opens for the patients having mark, as shown in Image 6.
4a. User can selectively check the items for posting. Check boxes are provided (see item marked 8 in Image 6) so that users need not post the ERA completely in one go; they can select the items that needs to be posted and complete the rest Later. This is helpful when the ERAs are large. But users have to exit and reopen the ERA to continue posting.
4b. Another method by which users can conveniently post large ERAs in parts is by using the new “Save and Continue” option (highlighted in Image 6b) added to the ERA Posting screen. Users can click on this option to leave the ERA partially posted and return later to complete the posting from where they left off. Users can continue posting the remaining payments without having to exit the ERA posting screen.
5. Allowed Amount(ERA) will be red-texted if less than the calculated allowed amount based on the fee schedule and orange-texted if it is higher. Also, Mouseover on ‘Allowed Amt (Fee Schedule)’ will display per unit allowed and the calculated allowed amount based on the no. of units.
6. Click on 
button at the bottom of the screen to post the ERAs. To view Posting Detail Report immediately after posting the items, check the box Show Posting Detail Report; this action opens the report as in Image 7.
7. When denials are auto-posted from the ERA, the system will ignore the contractual adj code (CO-45) or a patient responsibility code ( PR-1; PR-2; or PR-3) and instead attach the subsequent remark code.
Options/Links available in the ERA Posting screen
Each posting line in this screen is colored according to the legend given in Table 2.
| Color | Description |
 |
PAID_CLOSE / WO_CLOSE |
 |
Charge=Bal.Amount |
 |
Processed directly as Secondary |
 |
Charge = Adjustments |
Table 2
Different options/links available in the ERA Posting screen are labeled in Image 6 and described in Table 3.
| Option/Link | Description |
| 1 | This link at the top-left part of the screen takes the user to the ERA screen. It can be used for reference. |
| 2 | Opens the Recalls & Alerts screen |
| 3 | Payer Remark |
| 4 | Reverses the payment |
| 5 | To add line notes |
| 6 | Exceptions link to a page where all unmatched claims are listed. This separate listing helps users to quickly identify claims that failed to match/post from the ERA. |
| 7 | Link to Charge Master |
| 8 | To select the items for posting; |
Table 3