This article walks you through how to post and manage payments in the Motivity Collections module — from adding payments and working through ERAs, to handling special scenarios and closing out reconciled records.
What Does It Mean to Post a Payment?
"Posting a payment" refers to the act of recording a payment in Motivity once it's been received, so that it's properly applied against the corresponding invoice or claim. It typically involves:
Recording the payment — Whether you receive an ERA or a paper check, you enter the amount received into Motivity
Matching it to the right invoice/claim — Connecting the payment to the specific bill it's paying off
Updating the balance — Once matched, Motivity subtracts the payment from what was owed
Reconciling any difference — If the payment doesn't fully cover the bill, your team determines whether the remaining balance is owed by a secondary funder, the patient, or requires follow-up with the payer
Adding a Payment
Motivity supports four ways to add payments:
1. EDI 835 — Automatic Payments from the Clearinghouse
When your clearinghouse sends an EDI 835 file, payments are automatically listed in Collections and matched to invoices. Here's how matching works:
The system first attempts to match using the Claim Row ID
If unavailable, it compares the CPT code, Date of Service, and billed amount — all three must match
If no match is found, the record is marked Not Found and requires manual reconciliation
2. Manual Payment Entry
Click the Add Payment button in the upper right corner and enter:
Cash Receipt Type (recommended: Cash Receipt — selecting EDI will prompt an upload of the EDI text file)
Funding Type and Contract Name
Payment Number, Date, and Total Amount
Use the Attach button to upload a copy of the EOB
3. Advance Payments
If your organization receives payment before an invoice has been generated, you can hold it as an Advance Payment:
Select Add Payment in the upper right corner
Under Cash Receipt Type, select Advanced Payment
Enter the patient, the person financially responsible, payment method, number, date, and amount
Select Save & Print to automatically generate a receipt, or Save to generate it later using the red pencil icon
Advance payments are not applied to invoices until the relevant patient responsibility invoice is generated.
4. Patient Portal Payments
Motivity integrates with Stripe, allowing patients to submit payments directly through the payment portal. These are automatically placed in the Collections queue and are ready to be applied to patient responsibility invoices — no manual entry required.
Posting ERA Payments
Open an ERA by selecting the black hamburger icon on the right side of the payment row. You'll see all individual service lines included in that payment. Before posting, review each line and confirm:
Patient — Verify the correct patient is associated with each line
Date of Service — Confirm it matches the DOS on the EOB
CPT Code — Ensure it aligns with what was billed
Expected vs. Paid Amounts — Review what was billed against what the payer covered
ERA Color Highlights
Motivity uses color highlights to help your team quickly identify trends and anomalies:
🟢 Green — Fully Covered: Expected amount equals the covered amount. No action needed.
🟡 Yellow — Overpayment: Covered amount exceeds expected. Flags a potential overpayment for review.
🟡 Yellow — Patient Responsibility Remains: Outstanding patient responsibility amounts (copay, deductible, coinsurance) have been identified.
🔴 Red — Contractual Obligation (CO): A contractual write-off is present. Confirm the CO amount aligns with your payer contract before saving.
🔴 Red — Not Covered: A non-covered amount has been identified that may need to be transferred or written off.
Once you've reviewed and confirmed the amounts, select individual checkboxes or use Select All, then click Save & Post to apply the ERA to the associated claims.
Common ERA Issues to Watch For
Partial Matches — Check for a mismatched Date of Service or CPT code
Unmatched Claims from a Previous System — Appear as "Not Found." Adjust the payment amount to reflect only what was able to be posted
Overpayments or Duplicate Payments — Yellow highlights will flag these for review
Incorrect Contractual Adjustments — Confirm CO amounts align with your payer contracts before saving
Posting Payments Manually
Follow the color-guided workflow:
Select the Payment line (gray row)
Select the Patient (green row)
Select the Date of Service (orange row)
Enter the payment breakdown using the EOB
Here's what each field means:
Covered — The amount paid by the funder toward the claim
Allowed — The total amount the payer has determined is payable for the service, including both the payer's portion and any patient responsibility. In most cases, your Allowed and Expected amounts should match. If they don't, it may indicate the payer has changed their rate or that a contracted rate was entered incorrectly. For more information, see our Understanding the "Allowed" Amount in Collections article.
CO (Contractual Obligation) — The difference between what was billed and what the provider is contractually obligated to receive. Typically written off as a contractual adjustment
Copay / Deductible / Coinsurance — Out-of-pocket costs the patient is responsible for
Not Covered — Amounts not covered by the funder, transferred to patient responsibility or a secondary payer
Write-Off — Adjustments where the provider agrees to write off a non-collectible remaining balance
You can also apply denial codes directly within this view by selecting the denial reason as listed on the EOB. When selected, the claim is automatically transitioned to the Denials module worklist for follow-up.
Select Save & Post to finalize.
💡 Best Practice: Double-check that your totals equal the payment amount, ensure the correct funder and patient are selected, and avoid posting to an incorrect Date of Service or CPT code.
Secondary Invoice Generation
If a patient has a secondary funding source on file, look for the black "S" next to the primary funding type — this indicates a secondary claim may need to be generated. Once you select Save & Post, the system will prompt you to choose:
Proceed to Clearinghouse — Creates a secondary claim and submits it directly to the clearinghouse (only available when the patient has a secondary funding source on file)
Proceed — Creates the secondary invoice internally without submitting to the clearinghouse
If the patient does not have a secondary funder, the remaining balance automatically transfers to Patient Responsibility.
For full details on secondary invoices, adjustments, and denials, see our Motivity Billing 101: Secondary Invoices, Adjustments, and Denials article.
Have questions about posting payments? Reach out to our support team — we're happy to help! 💙