These days, if you take even a short sabbatical from modern life, you could quickly become lost about innovations and fall behind in efficiency. When it comes to your dental practice, even the billing field of the industry isn’t immune to these fast-paced changes. So, what are dental billing trends you need to be aware of for right now and in the future? Here are four that seem to be picking up speed in recent years or will soon do so!
Real-Time or AI Dental Insurance Verification
Whether you love or hate AI so far, it’s inescapable in the future. This fast-learning method can automate more tedious tasks for your billing and insurance team like verification. Instead of spending hours on the phone to confirm just one patient’s dental insurance information, your front desk team could be working on higher level work and other more lucrative or essential tasks.
Knowledge of Coding and Technological Changes
Unfortunately, new insurance codes or rules come out at least once per year, and technology and software may announce updates and changes even more frequently. If your billing team doesn’t stay fully trained through attending continuing education coursework and constantly remaining informed about the industry, you’ll fall behind, receive more denied claims, and miss out on money you deserve.
Needless to say, your billing team needs to keep up with these industry advancements. Just as you should consider which new technology would benefit your practice in terms of efficiency and improved outcomes, you need to make sure you take advantage of available information and innovations if they can help the billing process run more smoothly.
Financial Transparency with Patients
Thanks to some criminal and unethical practices throughout the country, some patients may not place their full trust in dental offices when it comes to cost and payments. Maintaining immaculate records, billing processes, and communication can help you be clear and transparent with patients about the work they receive, how much insurance pays, and how much the patient still owes in the most honest way. Perhaps you can make your relationship with them stronger because of this transparency!
Outsourcing Dental Billing
One of the most popular trends that has already started and shown significant improvement for dental practices is outsourcing dental billing to a remote service company. With a group of experienced dental administrative professionals, this team still costs less than hiring an in-house insurance coordinator. Plus, by paying a remote billing company to take care of your dental claims, you have an inherent protection system against embezzlement or fraud, missed time during staff paid time off or sick days, patient confusion about billing, and excessive denials and delays in payment.
Keeping up with technology can be difficult, but if you don’t take advantage of it, your practice won’t run as smoothly as it could, costing you time and money that other practices may maximize. Consider implementing one or more of these innovations in your business and see how it can improve your productivity and finances!
About Dental Support Specialties
Long before much of the remote dental billing trend began, Dental Support Specialties opened for business in 2008. Offering outsourced services for billing, chart auditing, answering phone calls, and other administrative tasks, we allow dental practices—including general offices, pediatric offices, and oral surgeries—to improve efficiency. How can we help you take advantage of the newest innovations in dentistry? Give us a call and arrange a consultation with us to find out.