Getting denied can be disheartening—whether it’s for a college application, a date, or a loan. However, if you file claims with dental insurance companies in your practice for every patient you see, regular denials can be devastating to your business’s financial success. If you want your office to thrive, you’ll need to cut down your denied claims from dental insurance, and you can find out how by continued to read this information below!
Why Do Dental Insurance Claims Get Denied?
Like many other types of insurance companies, those in dentistry tend to be reluctant to disperse money, so if the claim contains a tiniest mistake, it will get denied. Unfortunately, errors can happen in multiple areas of the extensive paperwork, such as in the following:
- The patient’s information is incorrect or missing.
- The coding for specific procedures or treatments isn’t accurate.
- The patient has multiple insurances struggling to coordinate with each other.
- The description doesn’t contain clear information.
- Photos and X-rays are missing from the documentation.
With any of these errors, dental insurance companies don’t hesitate to refuse to pay for work done even if it should be covered.
When a claim is denied, it can create a multitude of headaches for you and your team. Not only do you need to correct the mistake and resubmit the paperwork, which eats more time out of your team’s schedule and costs money, but you may also have to deal with a public financial scandal or even criminal charges.
How Can I Reduce Dental Insurance Denials?
The simple solution to addressing denied insurance claims is to eliminate errors, but here are a few more specific tips to ensure smooth payment from these companies.
Verify the Patient’s Insurance Benefits Before the Visit
When the patient schedules the appointment, you need to obtain their insurance policy information. Before they arrive, you can confirm that they indeed do have a plan with the insurance company and what type of coverage they have available. This verification means you can quote the cost to insurance more accurately and save time on the back end of the process.
Be Familiar with Payer Requirements
Although insurance company rules and codes for claims can change anytime, remaining compliant with their requirements makes the billing process smooth and effective. As a result, semi-frequent training for at least one team member may be necessary.
Outsource the Billing Process
Overall, billing takes a huge amount of time (and money) for your front desk team, but you can hand that Herculean job to a service company that specializes in insurance claims. These services typically cost less than hiring a full-time employee and the company’s team training is already built into their job schedules. In short, you have less pressure with the same confidence and more money coming in.
As humans, denial can still happen, but for dental insurance claims, understanding why they are denied, you can avoid it through following the tips above, ensuring that payments come in as soon and reliably as possible.
About Dental Support Specialties
At Dental Support Specialties, our team members stay updated on adjustments to insurance requirements for claims. They also have years of experience working in dental offices, which means they understand how to interact with patients and insurance companies directly. We are fully HIPAA compliant, so you can rest assured that your patients’ information is safe and protected here. Reach out to us if you’d like to talk about how our billing services can benefit your dental practice.