Dental Specialty Profits: Most Effective Tactics

Understanding the science of dental billing

Working as a dental practitioner isn’t just about taking care of your patients and building lifelong relationships — a business needs to be profitable. Your insurance claims are the lifeblood of your practice, and it’s important to ensure that they’re being submitted correctly each time. Dental billing requires professional knowledge of treatments performed at your practice, whether that’s quarterly cleanings or more intricate surgical procedures. Creating and sending accurate dental insurance claims is an art and a science, both of which must be understood and practiced in order to keep your practice profitable.

Common dental billing issues

Medical and dental codes are important for dentists who cater to specific oral care needs, from maxillofacial surgeons to pediatric dentistry. While every practice is different, many dentists have a dedicated insurance employee, so what happens if that one person goes on vacation? How will the rest of your staff know how to handle your new claims? Plus, there are other common problems that can arise in your practice without consistent insurance claims management:

• Improper CDT or ICD-10-CM codes for specific procedures within your specialty
• Disorganized or incorrect charting and narratives
• Challenges with patient insurance verification

Solving the insurance claims profit equation

What can you do to ensure that your practice stays profitable? No matter what your specialty, there are steps you can take to train your staff to be prepared for everything from new coding changes to the overall efficiency of your practice.

• Conduct a coding and narrative template review of your most common treatments
• Schedule appointments in a way that allows your staff time to submit accurate claims
• Know what your most profitable procedures are

Some offices may not need to know their way around absolutely everything all the time, but new codes and insurance specific requirements need to be adhered to every time. By focusing on these key areas, you can start to get ahead on managing your accounts receivables as well as the most efficient way to consistent profit.

Outsourcing dental billing

By now, it should be apparent that the majority of dental billing issues come from lack of adherence to insurance-specific requirements, or ignorance of possible medical codes for certain procedures. Without this knowledge, your profits suffer, and your staff may struggle to pick up the pieces to get claims paid while also delivering excellent patient care. If you find that this is regularly the reality in your practice, consider outsourcing your claims department to dental billers who are insurance experts, familiar with your practice specialty, and committed to your practice’s profits. Let eAssist give you peace of mind.