EOB (Explanation of Benefits)

An EOB is a payer's written explanation of how a claim was processed; on the provider side it's the human-readable remittance that mirrors the data in the 835.

An EOB (explanation of benefits) is the document a payer issues to explain how it processed a claim — what was billed, what was allowed, what it paid, and what the patient owes. Strictly, the patient-facing version is the EOB and the provider-facing version is the remittance advice (the paper twin of the electronic 835), but in day-to-day practice people call both 'the EOB.' For a billing office, the EOB/remit is the primary evidence of a denial or reduction: it carries the same allowed amounts, adjustments, and reason codes as the 835, just laid out for a human to read. When a claim is short-paid or denied, the EOB is what you attach, cite, and appeal against — it's the payer's own statement of what it did, which is exactly why it's such strong appeal evidence. Many practices still get some remittances only on paper (or as scanned PDFs), especially from smaller or secondary payers, so the EOB remains a real document to capture and read, not just a legacy of the 835. The reason codes printed on it are the starting point for deciding whether a reduction is a legitimate write-off or recoverable money.

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