Strategies to Boost Dental Practice Revenue

Hi, this is Amber Darst, Dental Insurance Coordinator from Managed Outsource Solutions. I will be talking with you today about – Strategies That Can Boost Your Dental Practice Revenue.

Managing the business side of your dental practice efficiently while providing patients with excellent treatment can be very challenging. Financial success depends greatly on efficient billing and communicating with your patients regarding their financial responsibilities for the services you provide to maximize your overall reimbursement. Here are a few strategies to boost your dental practice’s revenue –

Retrieve patient eligibility verification – Successful billing depends on performing the insurance verification before the date of service. Dental offices need to check the patient’s eligibility in coverage benefits with the insurance company. In addition to verifying demographic information when a patient calls to schedule an appointment, other important questions to ask existing patients are whether their dental insurance has changed since their last appointment and if there have been any recent changes in their employment situations. If the patient has a new plan, the office needs to obtain the summary of benefits and understand what services are covered under their new plan. It is also important to review your fee schedule.  Reviewing contracted fee schedules annually and setting the right fees is crucial for long-term financial success. Take a good look at your fee schedule and see what prices can possibly be increased. Adjusting your fee schedule can provide extra revenue right away.

Establish clear payment policies for patients – Practices should collect the patient’s co-pays or for fees not covered by their insurance at the point of service. The best practice is to have a written financial policy so that patients understand their obligations. If these obligations are not met, develop a proactive strategy to collect the payment, such as sending out reminders and statements on a bi-weekly or even a weekly basis. You can also offer an incentive for early payment. Having clear policies and procedures in place can reduce stress, ensure timely collection of payments and keep the cash flowing consistently into your office.

Ensure that you have an efficient claim submission process in order – Having a proper system in place for submitting insurance claims is critical to ensuring reimbursement. Techniques for improving insurance collections include submitting claims on a daily basis and setting up a system for reviewing all claims for accuracy before they are sent out. Tracking the claim status will tell you about the status of the claim once they have left the office. Contact the insurance company immediately at the first sign of delay or non-payment to investigate the reason so that you can fix it quickly.

Know your codes and when to assign them – Assigning the correct codes for each procedure performed is essential for successful dental billing. Practices need to have a proper understanding of the CDT codes and when to use them. Each of these codes have a specific purpose and payers have their own rules regarding the use of these codes for claim submission. Code changes occur every year and practices should review and note the all the changes, especially for your frequently used codes, evaluate these codes and how the changes may affect them.

Today, many dentists are realizing that outsourcing dental billing is a very cost-effective solution that can increase your practice revenue. Companies that provide dental billing services have a comprehensive understanding of the ins and outs of dental insurance and can ensure efficient claims submission to maximize the practices reimbursement.

And that’s all. I hope this helps but always remember that documentation and a thorough knowledge of payer-regulations and guidelines is critical to ensure accurate reimbursement for the procedures performed.

Thanks for Listening in.