AI dental payment reconciliation software: Every deposit, tied out to the claim and the books.

A few questions.

• How do you reconcile dental insurance payments?

  Three matches for every payment. First, the bank deposit to the ERA or EOB that explains it: by trace number for an EFT, by check number for a paper check. Second, each claim on that remittance to its posting in the practice management system. Third, the deposit to its entry in the books. Anything that differs, such as a recoupment, a card fee or a payment never posted, is named and resolved. ScoutIQ does all three automatically: 95% of insurance payments match with no human review, and the rest are flagged with the reason rather than posted wrong.

• What is EFT reconciliation in dental?

  EFT reconciliation is matching each insurance EFT deposit to the electronic remittance advice (ERA, or 835) that explains it, using the trace number that appears on both, and then to the claims posted in the practice management system. One EFT usually pays many claims and can be reduced by recoupments or offsets, so the deposit rarely equals any single claim. It needs EFT and ERA enrollment with each payer. ScoutIQ matches every EFT to its ERA and each claim to its posting, and names any difference.

• Can ScoutIQ reconcile to QuickBooks?

  Yes. ScoutIQ books deposits, card and virtual card fees and recoupments to QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, each to its own location, so the books agree with the bank. It works the same way with Xero, Sage Intacct, NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

• How long does dental payment reconciliation take?

  By hand, matching deposits, card payouts and virtual cards and then closing the books takes about 23 hours a month at a single location collecting $100,000 a month. With ScoutIQ, matching runs every day as deposits land, and month end becomes a review of the open items. ScoutIQ is live in 48 hours.

• How are virtual credit card payments and card fees handled?

  A virtual card is a card number a payer sends instead of a check or EFT. ScoutIQ can process it for you, matches it to its EOB and to the processor deposit, and books the full payment with the card fee split out as an expense. Patient card payouts work the same way: one payout, net of fees, is broken back into every payment inside it. At Todaro Dental, 49 of 49 card payouts, $152,083, matched to the bank automatically.

• Does it reconcile patient payments too?

  Yes. Patient payments by terminal, online, text-to-pay, card on file, payment plan, cash and check are each matched to the patient and procedure in the practice management system and to the deposit they landed in. 99% of patient payments reconcile with no human touch.

• We have several locations and bank accounts. Can ScoutIQ keep them apart?

  Yes. Each location keeps its own practice management system, bank accounts and location in the books. ScoutIQ works across 59 practice management systems, flags a deposit that landed in the wrong location’s account, and shows the month-end close location by location as well as for the whole group.

• What happens to a payment that does not match?

  It becomes a named open item with the reason and an owner: a recoupment, a fee, a short pay, a deposit never posted or money in the wrong account. Nothing is plugged to make the month close. At Todaro Dental, reconciliation found 7 deposits, $4,358, that reached the bank but were never posted in Open Dental.

• How does ScoutIQ decide that a payment is reconciled?

  Every match carries the proof behind it. Exact means the trace or check number on the bank line equals the one on the remittance or payout. Strong means amount, date and payer agree and only one bank line fits. Only those two count as reconciled. A close match, such as a payer alias, a small difference or a financing discount, and a guess from Atlas are proposals a person accepts or rejects. They are never accepted automatically, and the close report shows every dollar by the proof behind it.

• What happens to money nobody can identify?

  A bank credit with no remittance, payer or patient behind it is held in suspense and listed as an unidentified credit, with its amount, date and bank account. It is never spread across patients to make a number agree. Once someone names the sender, ScoutIQ matches and books it like any other deposit.

• Can ScoutIQ build the month-end close package?

  Yes. Atlas follows every payment from the practice software to the payer statement, the bank and the books, lists every open item with its owner, age and dollar amount, and exports the open items as a file your accountant can check line by line. If something blocks the close, such as a check posted but never deposited, Atlas says so and names it instead of certifying the month.

• Who signs off the month-end close?

  Three people: a preparer, a reviewer and an approver, and ScoutIQ requires them to be three different people. Whoever posted the payments cannot approve their bank match, and whoever posts a journal entry cannot approve it. Once certified, the close is locked. Reopening it needs a controller to ask, with a reason, and the CFO to approve, and every earlier sign-off stays in the history.

• Can an auditor trust the record?

  Yes. Every event in the close is chained to the one before it with a SHA-256 hash, so any edit, removal or reordering changes every hash after it. An auditor can export the log and recompute the chain. Remittances or postings that arrive after the close is certified appear as restatements against the certified numbers and are never written into them.

• Does ScoutIQ handle several legal entities and a management company?

  Yes. Each practice entity and the management company keep their own books, bank accounts and close. A deposit that lands in another entity’s bank account is flagged, and what one entity owes another is booked on both sides as due to and due from, netting to $0.00 across the group. Management fees and settlements between entities are booked the same way.