3 things every office can do to avoid a dental billing mess

We hear horror stories every day from private dental practice owners that look up suddenly and find themselves in a dental billing mess. Some dentists see their accounts receivable rising and rising, while others have Office Managers that become so burnt out with their never-ending task list that they leave abruptly. In an effort to keep this from happening to you, keep reading for the top 3 things every office can do to avoid a dental billing mess.

 What causes a dental billing mess?

 Before jumping into how to avoid a dental billing mess, let’s look at a few of the root causes. At a certain point for a growing dental practice, dental billing becomes a capacity issue. No matter how great or skilled your Office Manager is, their primary focus should always be patient care and aligning with your goals to grow the practice — not spending hours upon hours chasing down outstanding revenue. So the insurance claims, patient statements, insurance verification, and the rest of the dental billing processes get pushed to the back burner. This starts to cause major roadblocks in your revenue such as inconsistent cash flow and unnecessary writeoffs and adjustments.

On top of this, CDT codes and nomenclature are changing yearly. Offices that don’t have dental billing specialists with access to coding resources and a knowledgeable network are at a disadvantage.

Spot the warning signs

According to industry leader and dental coding expert, Dr. Charles Blair, only 33% of denied claims are appealed. This may be due to capacity or lack of knowledge about how, when, and why to appeal. Regardless of the reason, a strong majority (70% to be exact) of dental practices are leaving money on the table. 

This is why dentists need dental billing specialists on their team that completely focus on getting these claims paid, and all of the other processes that streamline revenue. This opens up the in-office team to focus on what matters, maximizing their role in the office. So when a $100 claim comes back denied, the Office Manager that you pay $20-30 an hour isn’t working for 3 hours to get it paid — which is losing you money. 

How to avoid a dental billing mess

Many dental practice owners encounter the same issue, they need dental billing specialists to help clean up a massive dental billing mess. Don’t wait until you are in this position to get your dental billing processes streamlined. Here are three ways to avoid a dental billing mess:

1. Making the decision to streamline your processes behind the scenes with eAssist, to open up your Office Manager’s time to focus on the high-level things you need them to — this also prevents burnout. 
2. Next, analyze which dental billing processes are causing the biggest roadblocks to your revenue. We’ve talked about dental billing, which is a huge one, but is it also patient billing or scheduling? Is it also verifying insurance? Being honest with yourself and looking closely at which processes you need help with is a HUGE step towards avoiding a dental billing mess and setting your practice up for success. 
3. Lastly, integrating the eAssist team into your in-office team, to maximize their efficiency, by having good communication and goal setting. You wouldn’t hire someone in your practice and shut them in an office to clean up your billing and never have them communicate with you. The same applies to a remote team of specialists. At eAssist, we rely on good communication with the office because we are here to help and support YOU in being a successful dental practice owner.

Fixing an existing dental billing mess

eAssist Dental Solutions is here to help. As the nation’s leading platform for remote dental billing services, eAssist hosts a professional network of dental billing specialists to streamline the areas in your practice that are causing gaps in revenue — and clean up your dental billing mess. While your eAssist team is streamlining your dental billing processes, your Office Manager and front desk team are scheduling, marketing, delivering excellent patient care, increasing treatment plan acceptance, and a long list of other tasks that make your practice successful. The extra, knowledgeable eyes on your revenue cycle helps prevent another disaster, so you have the peace of mind that your focus can move to what matters.

Natalie Rogers

Director of Business Development