What Happens to the Patient Balance After Insurance Pays With Teero

Introduction

The question comes up on almost every call about payment posting: once the insurance payment is in and the patient still owes something, who chases it? Does Teero mail a statement, text the patient, take the payment? The short version: not as part of Insurance Posting & Aging. Teero's Insurance Posting & Aging posts the insurance payment, records the patient portion in your practice management software and stops there. Statements, reminders and balance collection are handled by Teero's Patient Billing service, currently in early access (Faytao is an early-access customer) and not generally available. This guide walks through what Teero does at each stage after the claim goes out, where its work ends, and what the office keeps.

Key Takeaways

• When a payment is posted, Teero applies the contractual adjustment, records the patient portion and moves the balance to secondary insurance or patient responsibility, following the office's own write-off rules.
• Insurance Posting & Aging does not send patient statements, contact patients or collect patient balances. Claim submission and treatment planning stay with the office's team; patient billing is available from Teero as an early-access service.
• Teero has two generally available billing offerings: Insurance Posting & Aging, and Insurance Verification as an add-on to it. Neither includes patient billing, which is a separate early-access Teero service. Patient Billing is in early access with design partners.
• The patient balance your team bills is built from a posted remittance, with the EOB attached to the claim, so the statement your front desk sends starts from the real insurance payment.

Step 1: The Claim Settles and Posting Records the Patient Portion

What posting records

Every business day Teero posts the EOBs, ERAs, EFT remittances, paper checks and virtual credit card payments that arrived, matched to their claims, inside Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Eaglesoft or Open Dental. For each remittance the payment is posted to the correct patient and procedure, the contractual adjustment is applied, the patient portion is recorded, the EOB is attached to the claim, and the claim is closed or the remaining balance is moved to secondary insurance or to patient responsibility.

Whose rules apply

Adjustments follow the office's own write-off rules, which Teero reviews during onboarding. So the patient balance that appears on the ledger is the one your office's rules produce, not a number Teero decided on its own. If the payer underpaid, Teero checks the amount against the fee schedule before anything is written off, so a short payment is not quietly pushed onto the patient.

Secondary insurance first

Posting records the patient portion and moves the balance to secondary or patient responsibility. Teero submits secondary claims when a primary pays. Teero does not publish a universal rule that patient responsibility is set only after both payers respond.

Step 2: The Balance Moves to Patient Responsibility and Teero's Work Ends

Once the insurance side of a claim is settled, the remaining balance sits in the PMS as patient responsibility. That is the handoff. From here your front desk handles the balance the way it does today.

What posting does not do

Insurance Posting & Aging does not send statements, text or email patients about a balance, take patient payments, set up payment plans or hand accounts to a collections agency. None of these is part of it or of the Insurance Verification add-on. Teero's Patient Billing service is in early access with design partners and is not generally available.

What Teero keeps working

The insurance side stays with Teero after the first payment. Claims over 30 days old are followed up with the payer. Denials are classified and corrected or appealed. Teero prepares and submits payer-specific appeals and submits secondary claims. If a secondary payer or an appeal later pays, that payment is posted the same way as the first one, to the patient and the procedure.

Step 3: Your Team Bills the Patient

Statements and reminders

Your team sends the statement, follows up and takes the payment, using whatever your practice management software or your current process provides. Because the insurance payment is already posted line by line and the EOB is attached to the claim, the front desk can see what the payer paid and why before it contacts the patient.

Quoting the patient's share before treatment

Much of the patient balance is settled before the visit, not after it. If you add Insurance Verification, the full benefits breakdown Teero writes into the patient record before the visit, with category percentages, deductibles with used amounts and remaining maximums, is what the office uses to quote a patient's share before treatment. A better estimate at the front desk means a smaller surprise balance later.

Denials that need a decision

The decision on any denial that needs a judgment call is flagged inside the PMS for your team, with the denial reason, the payer's explanation, the appeal deadline and Teero's recommendation. Your team decides; Teero does the payer follow-up.

What the Office Keeps

Your team keeps the conversation with the patient: treatment planning, the estimate before treatment, and any financial arrangements made at the front desk. Statements, reminders and balance collection are handled by Teero's Patient Billing service, currently in early access (Faytao is an early-access customer). Claim submission stays with the office too. Teero does not submit claims; its work starts with verification before the visit, if you add it, and picks up again after your team has sent the claim.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Teero call or text patients about their balance? Not as part of Insurance Posting & Aging. Posting does not contact patients about balances. Its work is on the insurance side: posting, aging follow-up, denials, secondary claims and appeals.

Is patient billing included in the 2% fee? No. Insurance Posting & Aging is 2% of insurance collections (with volume discounts) and an $800 monthly minimum, and it covers the insurance side only. Patient billing is a separate Teero service in early access (Faytao is an early-access customer); it is not part of the 2% fee.

Can I buy patient billing from Teero? It is available as an early-access service with design partners such as Faytao; ask Teero about joining. Teero's Patient Billing service is in early access with design partners and is not generally available. Today Teero has two billing offerings: Insurance Posting & Aging, and Insurance Verification as an add-on to it at $5 per comprehensive benefits breakdown, with eligibility checks free.

Conclusion

Teero posts the insurance payment, records the patient portion in your PMS and keeps working the insurance side: aging, denials, secondary claims and appeals. Posting does not send patient statements or collect patient balances, and Teero does not submit claims. Claim submission stays with your team. Statements and balance collection are a separate early-access Patient Billing service. Teero's Patient Billing service is in early access with design partners and is not generally available. Details of what posting covers are on Teero's Insurance Posting & Aging page.