The Importance of Insurance Verification

Insurance verification helps to determine your patient’s eligibility for services. This is typically a part of any claims submissions and filings that your practice is processing on a daily basis. If you outsource, another company will be doing this for you, ideally with an understanding of the various dental and medical codes and situations that can cause a lengthy denial. This happens with nearly 75% of submitted claims, so the problem is very tangible for many dental practices.

When your claims are denied by the insurance company, you’re losing time and money. Maybe an employee made a mistake, or maybe the insurance company is just putting you through the ringer (again!). Regardless of the situation, understanding the importance of “getting it right the first time” is paramount to your practice’s success.

Outsourcing dental insurance verification might seem like a scary idea, but finding a company that affords you your time and money is an investment well made. Your employees might not know or understand all of the intricacies of a certain insurance’s policies, as well as general patient eligibility, as it changes all the time. When you outsource, all you’re required to do is document everything for each patient, whether they’re getting a filling or coming in for a routine cleaning. Also document information relative to the verification process:

• Effective coverage dates from beginning to end
• Specific dental and medical codes for the procedure
• Any applicable waiting periods for certain treatments
• Maximums and deductibles
• Fee scheduling
• Any other required documentation

The best dental insurance verification companies work towards processing your claims in a timely and complete fashion. There aren’t any guesses as to whether or not someone is eligible before the claim is submitted, and they’re sent off with the knowledge that they’ll be approved. eAssist takes this a step further by documenting our own processing, so that you are able to see everything we do and our justification for it, every 24 hours.

Like accounting, outsourcing in the insurance verification space is an investment for the long term profitability of your business. Whether or not it makes sense to you is dependent on the number of claims you process on a quarterly and yearly basis, as well as how often you want to have to keep up with new terminology and codes that crop up. Time is money, and being able to have the best of both worlds is one of the best goals your business can strive towards.