Besides quality treatment and happy patients, a dental practice needs to be sustainable and profitable. Here is where billing and reimbursements play a crucial role for a dental practice.
There are multiple parameters for measuring efficiency and profitability, as well as multiple factors that affect them. One such factor is called dental charge lag. It is a metric that is based on the time taken by a dental practice between the date of service and the date when the fees are recorded into the billing system.
Dental charge lag is a crucial metric for a practice as it has a bearing on the speed of claims processing and reimbursement. This also has an impact on revenue cycle management.
The greater the charge lag, the more delayed billing and reimbursement will be. Since this impacts cash flows negatively, the dental team needs to strictly oversee charge lag so that billing is completed on time and accurately.
The time between the date of service and the date when the charge gets logged into the billing system is defined as charge lag. The dental team needs to check the date of service for a particular treatment or encounter and then verify the date when the charge was recorded into the billing system.
The difference in time between the dates is the charge lag for that treatment. Calculations that are done by the team for all such individual encounters are measured for a defined period and then averaged to provide an overall charge lag metric for the dental practice.
Through a series of simple steps, the team can reduce dental charge lag as follows:
Employing charge capture technology
Automation through charge capture technology helps to automate the process. This lowers the time to capture charges and curtails the possibility of errors. Using such software can help the team to detect any charge entry delay and capture all charges at the earliest.
The practice must instill a process of conducting regular audits, as this can help the team to spot gaps where charges are delayed or even missed. Such audits can help to streamline the process to reduce charge lag.
The dental team needs to commence documenting when the patient encounter has just finished, as the memory is fresh and the possibility of omission or charge entry delay is negligible. The team can make use of tablet-based charge capture tools that enable on-the-spot entry and verification.
The practice must make sure that electronic health records (EHR), billing systems, and the practice management software are completely integrated. This helps to eliminate the need for manual entries, while data transfer errors can be detected and rectified immediately.
The charge entry process needs to be streamlined as it helps to lower the time taken to enter charges into the system. If automated, the team does not have to depend on manual data entry since standardized charge entry processes can be implemented.
The practice must conduct training sessions that help the team recognize the importance of timely charge capture and how charge entry delay can impact cash flows. Areas where charges might be overlooked can also be identified.
Monitoring key performance indicators for a practice, including charge lag, can help to identify processes for improvement. It can also help to spot patterns or gaps for delay.
By introducing such steps, a dental practice can reduce charge lag and ensure that all charges are captured at the earliest. This will reduce the possibility of lost or delayed revenue and boost RCM.
The benchmark time for charge lag in the dental care and healthcare sector is usually 24 to 48 hours. This indicates a timeframe for the dental team to enter all charges in the billing system within 24 to 48 hours of the time of service rendered to the patient.
While a more demanding charge lag of 12 to 24 hours is desirable, the team must be equipped to manage the same. A shorter time lag helps the dental practice to raise bills faster and get reimbursed earlier.
The longer the charge lag benchmark, the more the delay in billing and payment, and the possibility of losing revenue.
To raise the bar, the practice can introduce an internal SLA (equivalent to a service level agreement) and set predetermined lag windows such as ≤12, ≤ 24, ≤ 36, ≤ 48 hours, depending on the department or location demands. This will make staff accountable for lag metrics.
Many dental practices find it challenging to maintain a low charge lag as required. A few reasons are as follows:
A dental practice may skip writing notes or may delay writing clinical notes. Any missing documents or a lack of detailed clinical notes can affect the usage of codes and will require follow-up interactions with insurance companies.
The dental practice can suffer a setback if the systems are not connected and if different functions operate as individual siloes. If the practice management system, EHR, and the billing system are not integrated, then each handoff can bring about delays.
If the dental practice has a large customer base or specialized procedures that demand complex coding requirements. The billing team might not be able to keep pace. A slower throughput can increase charge lag.
If the process is not automated and there is a crunch in manpower, query resolutions and quality checks can create a backlog and increase charge lag.
If the dental team considers charge capture as an administrative load, there will be delays in responding to queries. There could also be a case of non-compliance. These cases can aggravate charge lag.
To reduce dental charge lag, a dental practice can use a combination of processes and technologies. Following some best practices helps the practice to reduce charge lag while also boosting cash flows. Capline Dental is a leading provider of end-to-end services to dental practices of all sizes in the USA and can be reached at info@caplinedentalservices.com
