> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mso.getlemma.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Post payments from 835s > Auto-posting setup, working the exception queue, handling PLB takebacks and interest, balancing every remittance to its deposit, and converting VCC payers to EFT. **Posting** records what the payer paid, what was written off, and what the patient owes. Done well it is mostly automatic. Done badly it corrupts your patient ledger, overstates revenue, and hides denials. ## Prerequisites * ERA enrollment complete and pointing at your current clearinghouse * Auto-posting configured in the PM system * Access to the bank account the EFTs land in * Your fee schedules loaded, so underpayments are flagged ## Steps Most systems auto-post clean lines. Configure: * **Adjustment mapping**, each CARC and group code combination maps to the right adjustment type * **Write-off rules**, CO adjustments write off; PR adjustments move to the patient ledger * **Denial routing**, \$0-paid lines with denial CARCs route to the denial queue, **not** to a write-off * **Underpayment flagging**, allowed amount below the contracted rate flags for review * **Exception thresholds**, what a human must see **The group code mapping is the highest-stakes configuration on this page.** Posting a PR amount as CO means you never bill a patient who owes you money. Posting a CO amount as PR means you bill a patient for something your contract says they don't owe. Test the mapping with a real 835 before going live. Same-day posting keeps the patient ledger current, surfaces denials while the appeal window is long, and makes reconciliation a small daily task rather than a month-end excavation. What lands there and what to do: | Exception | Action | | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Unmatched claim** | Find the claim; often a claim number or patient account mismatch | | **PLB takeback (WO)** | Identify the original overpayment; verify it's legitimate; record the recoupment | | **PLB interest (L6)** | Post as interest income, not as claim payment | | **Forwarding balance (FB)** | Note it; it will appear on a future remittance | | **Reversal (CLP02 = 22)** | A previously posted payment is being unwound; reverse the posting | | **Secondary transfer (OA-23)** | Route to the secondary payer | | **Unfamiliar CARC** | Look it up before posting, do not guess | | **Underpayment flag** | Compare to the contracted rate; aggregate before disputing | Sum of claim payments, plus or minus PLB, equals the EFT amount. **One 835 is not one bank deposit.** Deposits aggregate remittances; remittances split across deposits; PLB shifts totals. Match using the **TRN reassociation trace number**, not by hunting for matching dollar amounts. Amount-matching works until two payers send similar amounts on the same day, then it produces silently wrong postings. PR amounts move to the patient ledger. Statements go out within days of adjudication, not at month-end. See [Run patient statements and balances](/guides/billing/manage-patient-statements). Every \$0-paid line with a denial CARC goes to the denial queue with a root-cause tag. See [Work the denial queue](/guides/billing/work-the-denial-queue). ## Paper EOBs Every paper explanation of benefits is manual posting, and manual posting is where group-code errors happen. Treat each paper-paying payer as an action item: complete their ERA enrollment. The labor saving is real and the error reduction is larger. ## Virtual credit cards Payers that send single-use card numbers instead of EFT cost you 2–3% of the payment in processing fees. * Key them **promptly** — VCCs expire * Record the payment **gross**, with the processing fee as a separate expense, not netted * **Convert the payer to EFT.** Complete their EFT enrollment and ask in writing to opt out of the card program. See [Paper checks and virtual credit cards](/concepts/payments/paper-checks-and-vcc). ## Multi-entity posting In a multi-PC group: * Each PC's 835s post to that PC's ledger * Each PC's EFTs land in that PC's account * Reconciliation is **per entity** A misconfigured ERA receiver or EFT enrollment can route one entity's remittances or payments to another. That is a commingling problem, not just a posting error, and it is hard to detect if nobody reconciles per entity. See [Set up EDI, ERA, and EFT](/guides/enrollment/set-up-edi-era-eft). ## Verify it worked * [ ] Group code mapping tested with a real 835 * [ ] Denial routing sends \$0 lines to the queue, not to write-off * [ ] Underpayment flagging active against loaded fee schedules * [ ] Posting happens daily * [ ] Exception queue worked daily * [ ] Every remittance balanced to its deposit via TRN * [ ] PLB handled explicitly * [ ] Patient balances routed to statements within days * [ ] Paper EOB payers being converted to ERA * [ ] VCC payers being converted to EFT * [ ] Reconciliation performed per entity ## Common failure modes | Failure | Consequence | | --------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | PR posted as CO | Patient balances never billed, direct revenue loss | | CO posted as PR | Balance-billing patients for contractual write-offs | | Denials auto-written-off | Recoverable revenue silently lost | | PLB ignored | Books overstate revenue; reconciliation never ties | | Matching by amount instead of TRN | Silently wrong postings | | Weekly posting | Stale ledger; late denial discovery | | Accepting VCCs passively | 2–3% lost permanently | | No per-entity reconciliation | Cross-entity routing errors undetected | ## Related topics - [Step 11: Read your first 835 and get paid](/start/zero-to-paid/read-your-first-835.md) - [Reconcile payments daily](/guides/payments/reconcile-daily-payments.md) - [Work the denial queue](/guides/billing/work-the-denial-queue.md) - [Handle recoupments and takebacks](/guides/compliance/handle-recoupments.md) - [The 835: how payers answer](/concepts/payments/understanding-835s.md) - [Underpayments, fee schedules, and payer contracts](/concepts/payments/underpayments-and-contracts.md) - [835 file anatomy](/reference/edi/835-anatomy.md) - [Group codes (CO, PR, OA, PI)](/reference/edi/group-codes.md) - [CARC codes (Claim Adjustment Reason Codes)](/reference/edi/carc-codes.md)