It’s a story we hear more and more often from dentists these days – they have patients coming in the door, and they’re completing work in a fairly normal way – the problem is in collecting the money for work completed!
There are a range of reasons for this, too – it starts with patient responsibility, where people can have a very hard time paying for even routine dental services. Some of the major insurance providers have confusing policies and procedures, which can make everything worse.
Dental shops try to get in-house people with a good detailed knowledge of this system, but the landscape being so complex, it can be hard to make this happen.
Here are some of the services that dentists have been talking about as they complain about difficulties in collecting revenue.
Cleaning
Cleaning is one of the most basic dental services. A hygienist comes in and spends time removing plaque and tartar and getting teeth back in stellar condition.
Part of the issue here is that the time spent in cleaning depends on the time from the last cleaning, and other factors. So what does the insurance cover? It can be difficult to tell, until you submit a form, and even after that, ambiguities still exist.
X-Rays
Insurers have a whole menu of coverage options for different types of tooth x-rays including panoramic x-rays and routine diagnostic x-rays.
Patients may be used to getting x-rays once a year, or once every two years, or on some other schedule, but insurance changes can have an impact and leave them with questions about which x-rays will be covered and what portion they may have to pay themselves. That can also have a negative impact on the provider’s revenue cycle, as we have seen in the past.
Fillings
Dentists using the typical system of surfaces to identify charges for dental fillings might also have a problem evaluating the insurance payouts around this type of service. Fillings are a very common reason that people come into the dentist, but choosing materials and other decisions often have to do with cost.
Let Dynamic Dental Solutions help collect 100% of dental billing with insurance and billing support for busy offices. We are HIPAA compliant, too, with procedures that keep patient data safe. We know the solutions! Talk to us about how to bring in the money that you need to benefit from a well-run dental office, in the front office, and in the back office!
