Word list¶
Everyday language for the terms you will see in Ordo. You can skip this page and come back when a label on screen is unclear.
Ordo (the product name) comes from Latin: order, row, series, or methodical arrangement — related to the modern English word system. See Where the name comes from.
Documents and money¶
EOB (Explanation of Benefits)
The PDF (or JPG/PNG image) the insurance company sends after they process claims. It lists patients, procedure codes, and how much the plan paid. In Ordo, one uploaded file is one EOB — even if that file contains twenty patients.
Download EOB
Saves the original uploaded remittance (PDF or image) to your computer. Available from the Dashboard row menu and from inside a file. This is not the same as Export, which downloads a spreadsheet of the current list.
EOB History
On a patient’s detail page, every remittance Ordo has for that person — not just the file you opened last.
Remittance
Another word for the same insurance payment document. People say “today’s remittance” the way they say “today’s EOB.”
Plan covered amount
The dollars on the EOB that Ordo will post as the insurance payment. It is not always the same as the dentist’s billed fee, the patient’s copay, or the write-off.
InsPayAmt
Open Dental’s field name for “insurance paid amount.” When you click Post payment, Ordo writes the EOB plan covered amount into this field. You do not need to memorize the name; the screen labels it in friendlier words.
Claim payment / claim payment number
After a successful post, Open Dental may return a payment number. Ordo shows it as confirmation that the write happened.
People and claims¶
Patient
A person extracted from the EOB. In Ordo they appear both inside a file and on the cross-file Patients list.
Subscriber
The person whose insurance policy it is. Often the patient; sometimes a parent or spouse. Subscriber ID is a strong clue when matching to Open Dental.
Claim
One visit (or one billing package) sent to insurance. An EOB can list several claims for the same patient, or one claim with several procedure lines.
Procedure line
One row on the claim: a CDT code (for example D1110, a cleaning), a date of service, and amounts.
CDT code
The American Dental Association procedure code. D0150 is a comprehensive exam. D1110 is an adult prophylaxis (cleaning). Ordo matches EOB lines to Open Dental using these codes.
Date of service (DOS)
The day the dentistry was actually done. Matching uses this date. A claim for June 12 will not happily match a claim for July 3.
Carrier / payer
The insurance company (Cigna, Delta, and so on).
Layout / remittance format
The printed template Ordo recognizes on the page — not just the company name. Delta Dental alone has several layouts. You do not pick this at upload. Catalog: What files and layouts Ordo reads.
OCR
Reading text from a photo or a scanned PDF (no selectable text). Ordo does this on the server for JPG/PNG and empty-text PDFs. A portal PDF is still more reliable.
Detect & upload
Upload mode that identifies the remittance layout, then asks you to Process EOB before extracting patients.
Fill from sample
Upload mode that starts from a clinic sample (text/CSV), fills your data, and creates the EOB.
Confirm layout
File status after detect: the payer/layout is known, but patients are not extracted yet. Confirm with Process EOB, Process {payer} on the row menu, or Confirm & process inside the file.
EOB processing mode
Clinic setting: Parser Mode (normal readers), AI Mode (AI for every remittance when enabled), or Fallback Mode (parser first, then AI). See Clinic settings.
Continue with Google
Actual sign-in option that uses your Google account instead of typing a password.
Matching and posting¶
Match
Ordo’s guess (or your confirmation) that “this EOB claim is that Open Dental claim.”
Fetch Open Dental
The button that loads chart data from the practice’s Open Dental copy so you can compare claims. Until you fetch, the Open Dental tab has no claim candidates. Finding the person (when names differ) is Find possible patients: Finding the patient.
Candidate
One possible Open Dental claim Ordo is offering you. The recommended row is pre-selected when Ordo is confident.
Hard mismatch
A serious identity problem: the patient, date of service, or procedure codes do not line up. Do not approve these until you pick a better claim or reject.
Approve match
Locks in the Open Dental claim you selected. Does not post money.
Post payment
Writes the amounts (and optional notes) to Open Dental. Stays off until the match is Approved. After Posted or Already Posted it stays off.
Workflow guide
An in-app button on the EOB patient list that maps which actions are allowed at each status. The longer version is Statuses.
Reject match
Throws away the current match without posting. Use this when the recommended claim is the wrong visit.
Remark
A short note. There are two kinds:
- Procedure remark — on each line (starts as “Match” or “Not matched”). Becomes a note on that Open Dental procedure when you post.
- Payment remark — the optional box at the bottom of the card. Becomes a note on the whole payment.
Audit
On a patient: Open Dental API calls for this EOB, plus the checklist of comparisons (patient ID, name, date of service, procedures, amounts). Open this tab when a match looks “off” or a post failed.
Signal
One row on that checklist. A failed signal is Ordo saying “these two values are not the same.”
Fees and underpayments¶
Fee schedule
A list of CDT codes and fees. An insurer’s fee schedule holds the contracted fees; the Office / UCR schedule holds your office fees. Managed in Clinic settings → Insurance. See Fee schedules and date maps.
Date map
Says which fee schedule applies from which date of service (Effective from, optional Effective to). For each date of service, Ordo uses the covering map with the latest start date. Overlapping ranges for the same insurer are blocked.
Contracted fee
What your clinic agreed with an insurer to accept for a CDT code. The starting point for every underpayment number.
UCR / Office fee
“Usual, customary, and reasonable” — your office’s own full fee (what you bill). Shown for comparison. Never used to calculate an underpayment.
Allowed amount (EOB Allowed)
The amount the insurer says it allowed on the EOB. Shown for context only; Ordo uses your contracted fee instead.
Patient portion / patient’s share
The part the patient owes: deductible plus coinsurance from the EOB, or the EOB’s patient responsibility when those are missing.
Expected
What insurance should have paid: contracted fee minus the patient’s share, never below zero.
Underpayment
Expected minus what insurance actually paid, never below zero. Calculated per procedure, then added up.
NA
“Ordo cannot give an honest number here” — usually no contracted fee was found (Missing clinic fee) or the EOB’s patient amounts disagree (Patient share unclear). Not the same as zero.
Work item
A flagged procedure that needs a decision — created when the underpayment is at least $10 or 5%. Decided with Review on an EOB’s Payment Analysis tab.
Parent carrier
A larger insurer whose fee schedule a smaller plan shares. If a plan has no date map of its own, Ordo falls back to the parent’s.
Analytics¶
Posting Analytics
Upload / post / fail counts (Overview, formerly Reports) and claims with nothing posted (Missing Posting). See Posting Analytics.
Payment Analytics
Underpayments across uploaded EOBs (Remittances) and past Open Dental claims (Historical Analysis). See Payment Analytics.
Payment Analysis
The tab inside an EOB (and each patient) that checks the payment against the contract. See Payment Analysis inside an EOB.
Fetch job
A background pull of claims from Open Dental for a date range, used by Historical Analysis and Missing Posting. You analyze a finished job, so the numbers do not shift while you read them. Finished jobs are removed after 90 days.
Missing posting
A claim that is Sent or Received in Open Dental but has no insurance payment (check or EFT) attached.
Days outstanding
How long a claim has waited: from the date sent, or from the date of service when no sent date is recorded.
Status words you will see¶
Statuses describe where work is, not whether anyone did a bad job.
| You might see | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| Uploaded | The file arrived. Reading has not finished. |
| Confirm layout | Layout detected; waiting for Confirm & process / Process EOB. |
| Queued | Waiting its turn to be read. |
| Extracting / Processing | Ordo is reading the PDF. |
| Extracted / Ready | Patients and lines are available to review. |
| Not fetched | This person has not had Fetch Open Dental yet. |
| Needs review | A person should look. Matching was unsure or flagged. |
| Approved | Someone confirmed the Open Dental claim. Not posted yet. |
| Posting | The write to Open Dental is in progress. |
| Posted / Completed | Ordo wrote the payment to Open Dental. |
| Already Posted | Open Dental already had matching amounts on a check. Success — not a failure. |
| Failed | Reading, fetch, or a real post error. Do not confuse with Already Posted. |
| Retry required | Try again after the underlying problem is fixed. |
| Archived | Hidden from the active inbox and from Posting Analytics. Not deleted. |
| Pending | Not fetched yet, or matching has not produced a decision. |
| No match | Ordo could not find a plausible Open Dental claim. |
| Rejected | Someone threw away the match without posting. |
| Matched | A candidate was found; you still review before posting. |
| Hard mismatch | Identity failed on this candidate. Do not approve it. |
| Open Dental API 400 / 401 / 429 / 504 | Open Dental refused or timed out. See Open Dental errors. |
On the Patients list, filters such as Pending, Needs review, Matched, No match, and Archived refer to that person’s match status across files.
The full lifecycle (file vs patient vs match): Statuses. Each button: What each operation does.
Appointments and booking¶
Operatory
A treatment room or chair in Open Dental (Op 1, Hygiene 2…). Day view shows one column per operatory.
Broken appointment
Open Dental's word for a visit the patient missed or cancelled. When you cancel in Ordo, or a patient cancels online, the visit is marked Broken and moved to the Unscheduled List. Ordo never posts a broken-appointment fee.
Unscheduled List
Open Dental's follow-up list of visits that need a new time. Broken appointments go there so the office can call the patient back.
Confirmation status
Your clinic's own Open Dental label for whether the patient confirmed (for example Confirmed, Left Msg). Ordo shows it but does not change it.
Online booking page
The web page where patients book, reschedule, or cancel their own visits. See Online booking page.
Booked online / Booked on call
Markers on visits booked through Ordo: by the patient on the booking page, or by staff on a phone call. Visits booked directly in Open Dental have neither.
Visit type
A reason patients can choose on the booking page, such as Cleaning or New patient exam, with its own length and audience (new patients, existing patients, or everyone).
Booking window / minimum notice
How far ahead patients can book online (30 days by default), and how soon they can book (2 hours from now by default).
Patient change cutoff
How close to a visit patients can still reschedule or cancel online (24 hours by default). Staff are never blocked.
Testing mode
A switch that sends every patient message to your own test email and phone, marked [Test]. Bookings made while it is on are still real.
.ics file
A standard calendar file. Export .ics on the Appointments page saves the schedule you are looking at for Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook.
Practice and access¶
Role
A named bundle of permissions: Owner, Admin, Reviewer, Viewer, or a custom role your clinic created. Roles decide which modules and buttons you see.
Permission
One specific ability, such as “Upload EOBs” or “Post payment.”
Organization / clinic / practice
Your dental office in Ordo. Multi-location practices can also have locations and map users to them.
Allowlist
The list of people or clinics allowed into the product. If someone cannot sign in, they may not be on the allowlist yet. Ask your office manager to email help@perfect.ventures.
API logs
A technical diary of calls to Open Dental. Useful when a connection test or post fails. How to read the numbers: Open Dental errors. Most billing staff will rarely need this; office managers might, with Ordo support at help@perfect.ventures.
eConnector
The Open Dental service at the office that lets the cloud API reach your charts. If it is not running, Test, Fetch, and Post fail with a 400-style message.
ClaimProc
Open Dental’s name for one insurance line on a claim (the row that holds InsPayAmt). Ordo posts onto ClaimProcs.
ClaimPayment / ClaimPaymentNum
The insurance check record in Open Dental. After a successful post, Ordo shows this number as confirmation.
Audit log
A people-oriented diary: who uploaded, who approved, who posted. This is the log to open when you need “who did what, when.”
Systems Ordo talks to¶
Open Dental
The practice management system (charts, claims, ledgers). Ordo does not replace it. Ordo posts into it.
Replica / sync
Ordo keeps a local copy of some Open Dental data so matching is fast. Fetch and Sync refresh that copy. If Open Dental changed after you approved, Ordo will ask you to review again instead of silently overwriting.
PMS
“Practice management system” — for Ordo today, that means Open Dental.