Open Dental Pending Preauth Query

If you are struggling to keep track of which pre-authorizations have been sent to insurance but have not yet been received, this query will help you manage your follow-up list. It pulls a list of all pre-authorizations currently in a "sent" status, allowing you to see exactly which patients are waiting for a response.

The Query

Copy and paste the following code into your User Query window.

/* Set the date range for when the pre-authorization was sent */
SET @FromDate = '2026-01-01';
SET @ToDate = '2026-12-31';

SELECT 
    c.DateSent AS 'Date Sent',
    p.LName,
    p.FName,
    ca.CarrierName,
    c.ClaimFee AS 'Total Fee'
FROM claim c
INNER JOIN patient p ON c.PatNum = p.PatNum
INNER JOIN insplan i ON c.PlanNum = i.PlanNum
INNER JOIN carrier ca ON i.CarrierNum = ca.CarrierNum
WHERE c.ClaimType = 'PreAuth'
  AND c.ClaimStatus = 'S'
  AND c.DateSent BETWEEN @FromDate AND @ToDate
ORDER BY c.DateSent;

How to Run This Query

1. In Open Dental, go to Reports in the Main Menu.
2. Click User Query.
3. Paste the query above into the large text box.
4. Click Submit Query.
5. The results will display in the grid below.

Understanding the Results

• Date Sent: The date the pre-authorization was electronically sent or printed.
• LName / FName: The patient's last and first name.
• CarrierName: The insurance company the pre-authorization was sent to.
• Total Fee: The total dollar amount of the procedures included in the pre-authorization.

How to Customize

You can easily change the date range to look for older or newer pending pre-authorizations.

• Change the Date Range: Locate the lines SET @FromDate = '2026-01-01'; and SET @ToDate = '2026-12-31';. Change the dates inside the single quotes to your desired range, keeping the YYYY-MM-DD format.

Variations

If you want to see pre-authorizations that were sent before a certain date (to find very old, forgotten ones), you can change the WHERE clause:

/* Change the WHERE clause to find everything sent before a specific date */
WHERE c.ClaimType = 'PreAuth'
  AND c.ClaimStatus = 'S'
  AND c.DateSent < '2026-01-01'

Skip the Query — Use DentalCanvas Instead

Don't want to write SQL? DentalCanvas connects to your Open Dental database and shows you this data automatically in a visual dashboard — no queries required.

This article is provided by opendentalsupport.com, an independent community resource. We are not affiliated with Open Dental Software, Inc.