Running a successful dental practice means handling the insurance claim process responsibly. There are many moving parts to fixing revenue problems for the dental practice to be successful. Today, more than ever, dental offices are outsourcing dental billing because it is complex and requires dental billing expertise.
No doubt that all skill-based tasks can get outsourced. The purpose of outsourcing is to alleviate unnecessary stress on the practice owner and free up the staff from burnout. It can affect the revenue cycle management of the dental practice. The services any outsourced dental billing company offer:
- Lab work
- IT
- Legal
- Payroll & Accounting
- Maintenance of equipment
- HRM
- Employment agreements.
How many of these tasks do you outsource depending upon what fits better for your dental practice? As per the statistics, nearly 50% of the U.S. adult population utilizes dental insurance, where dental billing is the main component of the RCM. Approximately 9% of the collectible revenue gets missed annually because of the dental billing process.
Importance of Dental Billing
- Dental billing is submitting the claim to the insurer after the completed treatment for reimbursement as per the patient’s insurance plan and benefits.
- The process starts with the correct CDT coding and ends with the payment.
- It looks simple, but the in-between parts keep you on the toes, and if any of those parts get missed, the chances of getting the reimbursement denied or delayed increase.
- When you keep the dental billing experts, you both are working on the same goal.
- An example of a critical dental billing process starts with the insurance verification from the subscriber to insurance information to CDT.
- The dental billing process takes time and dedication, particularly if any details need to be included or corrected, leading to unnecessary denial or delay in the payment.
Pros of Outsourcing Dental Billing
Here are a few benefits of the outsourced dental billing process.
- The administrative tasks in the dental office are overwhelming on any given day appointment scheduling, treatment planning, digital marketing, cross-training, etc.
- It is no surprise that dental offices do not collect what they are owed by the insurance claims due to so much on their plate that they miss the dental billing process. And outsourcing dental billing means a team of experts on your side to help you 100% and achieve what you owe from the claim.
- The administrative team in the dental office is mostly busy resolving convoluted claims and spends unnecessary hours on the same.
- The average insurance hold time is 52 minutes per claim. The team spends way more hours on the phone, which kills them most of the time, and the team is unable to do the necessary tasks like connecting with patients, setting goals, increasing treatment plan acceptance, and many more.
- The dental billing experts know the process left, center, and right, which means increased cash flow, more time for patient care, no disruption in the RCM, and productive phone time.
- Outsourcing to the dental billing company is like casting the burden of working on the outstanding claims aging report, waiting on hold to appeal, and your staff can work on other things and researching denied claims.
- Dental offices consider outsourcing expensive, whereas most dental billing companies bill basis on the size of the dental office and how much revenue they bring in. It can range between $1,300- $5,000 per month.
- Outsourcing also brings a pool of experts to answer or offer best practices. Their knowledge equips them to face the claim challenges and turn them into the best possible solution to your practice.
Ways to make it work
- Having the right attitude towards the dental billing company is first and foremost. Initially, the office manager takes care of everything, and now the outside dental billers are trying to make everyone’s life easier. Therefore, additional help with insurance billing is not a bad idea.
- Always be ready to communicate with the company and do not put them on the pedestal once you outsource, considering you do not have to do anything with the company. They are an extension of your staff and not a band-aid that is here to fix low collections. Therefore, working with each other to do their job well.
- Take them as the return on the investment and not an extra expense.
