When choosing a dental-to-medical billing service, there are several key decision factors to consider beyond price. You have likely heard the age-old saying, “you get what you pay for”. Medical billing services are no exception, and this adage is especially true for medical billing in dentistry. While going with a service that offers the lowest pricing may be tempting, it is important to do a little research to prevent hidden costs far higher than what the service claims to save you. These costs are not just in dollars but time, stress, results, and more.
When choosing a medical billing service, essential factors to consider include:
Communication & Support
Strong communication is key to a successful relationship between a dental practice and its medical billing service. We frequently hear from dental practices that poor communication is their chief complaint with their current or previous medical billing service. Ensure the medical billing service you are considering has easy ways for you to connect with them, such as live chat, direct messaging, or phone. Poor communication can cost the dental practice extensive team member and patient frustration.
Systems & Processes
A streamlined workflow is a crucial factor in easing the burden on the dental practice team. Ask the medical billing service how your practice should supply the needed information like patient demographic and insurance details, codes, fees, and documentation. If their answer is “your team can fax or e-mail everything to us” – you may want to keep looking! Look for a medical billing service with an integrated software system to easily access this information. Inefficiency in data sharing can cost the dental practice countless hours of team member time.
Team Training
Services They Bill For
Experience working with dental practices
Medical billing in dentistry is not difficult, but it is different! We cannot stress enough the importance of the medical billing service having ample experience working with dental practices. The obstacles a medical biller faces are quite different when the services rendered are in a dental practice setting. An inexperienced medical billing service can cost the practice a great deal of cash flow with avoidable claim and pre-authorization denials and insufficient benefit verification gathering.
Consider this: you find a medical billing service that saves you approximately $20 per patient compared to another between benefit verification, pre-authorization & claim filing services. Your practice averages 50 patients through medical insurance per month, saving $1000 monthly! That sounds great until a few months in, and the realization hits that the medical billing service has poor communication, inefficient systems, and lacks the knowledge to guide your team through the process properly. This perfect storm results in denied claims which significantly affects your cash flow. Your team members spend tons of additional hours trying to sort it out, diverting their attention from other responsibilities, and the situation crushes their confidence in offering medical billing solutions in the future. You lose out on word-of-mouth referrals due to frustrated patients. The loss of cash flow, referrals, and team productivity have cost your practice far greater than the $1000 you thought you were saving!
Medical billing can be an advantageous element to add to your dental practice when done right. Successful practices report increased case acceptance as well as patient and physician referrals. Thoroughly vet the medical billing service(s) you are considering before diving in headfirst to be sure it is a good fit!
Nierman Medical Billing Service for Dentists
Incorporating medical reimbursement into the dental office is incredibly rewarding and profitable, yet can seem challenging and time-consuming. Nierman Medical Billing Services utilizes proprietary state-of-the-art technology that saves hours of time and emphasizes personalized, high-quality service that get you results fast, making it a win-win for your patients and your practice.
Get in touch or call 1-800-879-6468, option 1 to speak with a specialist on how Nierman Medical Billing Services can take your dental practice to new heights with medical billing reimbursement.
Article By: Rose Nierman & Courtney Snow