Two percent of what?
That should be the first question when someone quotes a dental payment-posting fee. Insurance collections? All collections? Only payments handled by the service?
If the charge is 2% of $100,000 in monthly insurance collections, it is $2,000 a month. If it applies to $200,000 in total collections, it is $4,000. Same percentage. Twice the bill.
These are examples, not a claim that 2% is a standard posting rate. Your contract decides the fee base.
Posting is not the same as collecting
Posting records payments, adjustments, and balances in the ledger. A broader billing service may submit claims, work denials, appeal decisions, and follow up on old receivables. Do not lump those jobs together when comparing prices.
For posting only, why should a larger payment automatically cost more to process? An EOB may take more work if it contains more claims or unusual adjustments. The dollars collected do not, by themselves, tell you how much work was done.
Get the scope in writing. Does it include ERA and paper EOB handling, claim matching, adjustment rules, patient balances, deposit reconciliation, and unmatched items? Who fixes errors?
Measure completed work
If a hypothetical service costs $2,000 a month and completes 800 claim-level postings, that is $2.50 each before internal staff time. At 400 completed postings, it is $5 each.
Neither number tells you whether the service is good. Measure accuracy, turnaround, reconciliation, and work left behind.
An EOB, a payment, and a claim-level posting are different units. Pick one definition and use it consistently. Otherwise a vendor can look cheaper simply by counting differently.
Where AI belongs
Reading payment information, matching it to claims, and applying approved posting rules are workflows worth testing for automation. Dentistry Automation offers payment posting and reconciliation within its RCM tools.
The important question is what happens when the match fails. You need review for unclear adjustments, duplicates, recoupments, and anything that does not reconcile. Fast posting to the wrong account is not progress.
Require an audit trail and a clear exception queue. Someone must own the difference between what the payer says it paid, what the bank received, and what the PMS shows. Confirm which parts the vendor covers.
Compare total cost
Compare the fee, remaining staff cost, and correction cost. Match posting-only services against posting-only services, not against full billing.
A percentage can be reasonable for broader work and accountability. It should not escape scrutiny because it sounds small. See how the same framing applies to overall dental RCM pricing and the broader revenue-cycle workflow.
See the workflow
Dentistry Automation runs verification, payment posting, and claims workflows with AI, backed by people for the exceptions. See how it works.
Sources: Dentistry Automation RCM and reconciliation materials; eAssist billing scope and pricing, which describes broader billing rather than a standalone 2% posting quote.
