Practice Management

Janice Keller has 25-plus years of experience in dentistry clinically, and as an office manager and software trainer. Now, as a practice management consultant, she provides high-quality, customized practice development and education to clients and their teams. Jan is certified by human resource experts Bent Ericksen & Associates in employee law compliance, and also certified by the Institute of Practice Management. She is a member of the prestigious Speaking/Consulting Network, and the Academy of Dental Management Consultants. Reach her by email at jkeller@jankellerassoc.com.

Articles

Regardless of your practice philosophy regarding insurance management, you are bound to have heard this kind of statement from patients many times in the past.

The dreaded “Why do I have to pay?”

Dayna Johnson has helped dental offices from around the country easily transition down the path to paperless using her years of experience as a dental office manager and Certified Dentrix Trainer. As one of the country's most trusted consultants, she gives a straightforward and complete assessment for each of her clients. No two dental offices are alike, and Dayna channels her passion for going chartless to help each of her clients fulfill their goals and increase their profitability. For more information, visit www.raedentalmanagement.com or her blog at thedentrixofficemanager.blogspot.com.

With more than 20 years in the dental publishing industry, Kevin Henry has guided the leading publications in the industry, including serving as the former group editorial director for 

. He now works as the co-founder for IgniteDA, a community designed to empower, enlighten, and educate dental assistants, and as director of marketing for Fortune Management, a coaching community dedicated to help dentists and teams have extraordinary practices and lives. He can be reached at kevinhenry@fortunemgmt.com.

It’s a dark and stormy night in the small town where your dental practice is located. It’s also one of the first late, late afternoons you’ve worked in the practice since it relocated from the center of town to a new location out by the lake.

The top 5 most gruesome horror movie injuries  - and the ICD-10 codes that could save the victims' lives

Alitta Boechler is a marketing manager at Sikka Software. She holds a Doctorate of Audiology from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.  You can contact her at alitta.boechler@sikkasoftware.com or (408) 359-3014.  For more information about The Practice Optimizer CompanyÂ® please visit https://www.sikkasoft.com/dental/sikka-apps/practice-optimizer-dental/

As we enter the fall season, chances are that you have patients with remaining dental benefits who also require dental care. According to Forbes, only three percent of patients use all of their benefits in a given year.

Dental benefits: Use them or lose them

The new ICD-10 diagnostic code set will be implemented on October 1. So, what do you need to know? Here are the top 10 things that will make the transition to ICD-10 a little bit easier.

The top 10 things you need to know about ICD-10

Teresa Duncan, MS, FADIA, FAADOM is an international speaker who focuses on revenue, dental insurance & management issues. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Dental Office Managers. Her memberships include the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, National Speakers Association and the Academy of Dental Management Consultants. She has been named one of the Top 25 Women in Dentistry by Dental Products Report. Teresa received her Master’s Degree in Healthcare Management.

The adjustments report is one of the most emotion-inducing reports to read and analyze. It may even be the most depressing one, but it certainly is necessary.

How streamlining adjustments reports can benefit your dental practice

Introduced by Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-GA), the bill-the “Dental and Optometric Care Access Act (DOC Access Act)"-seeks to ease potential conflicts between dentists and eyecare providers and insurance companies.

New bill before Congress targets dental insurance plans

 As we cross the midway point of the year, now is an excellent time for a dental practice to examine its fee structure and see what needs to be updated and improved, said Teresa Duncan, DPR’s insurance editor and a noted practice management consultant.

Why now is the perfect time for your dental practice to examine its fees

 October 1, 2015 marks the deadline for the transition to the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), which will introduce a whole new set of codes for dental and medical practices nationwide.

The 20 most bizarre new ICD-10 codes

Mike Uretz is a nationally-recognized Dental software and Electronic Health Records (EHR) expert. Mike has helped hundreds of individual practices and multi-clinic groups properly evaluate and select software vendors and solutions, structure and negotiate pricing and contracts, provide implementation oversight and vendor management. Mike was a member of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology EHR vendor certification workgroup, and has been a member of various federal and state working committees for EHR business practices and policy. Having been involved with the EHR Incentive program from day one, Mike has helped a number of states, to evaluate and select EHR vendors, structure contracts and agreements, and manage vendor issues. As co-chairman of the Best practices advisory committee for EHR Contracts, Mike has been instrumental in developing standards for structuring vendor contracts and pricing for use by state programs nationwide He is the founder and editorial director of DentalSoftwareAdvisor.com, a trusted and objective online resource on all matters related to dental software. He is also the point person for Advanstar’s coverage of dental EHRs and their evolving role in the dental industry and can be reached by e-mail at mikeu@dentalsoftwareadvisor.com.

 The dental industry is rapidly changing with the introduction and adoption of dental EHRs. This technology affords us the ability to have functionality that we could have never done before on a manual level. One of the big changes that's happening is the introduction of new, more detailed granular and sophisticated coding sets. 

SNODENT and the future of dental EHR coding

Patti DiGangi, RDH, BS, believes dentistry is no longer just about fixing teeth. Dentistry is oral medÂ­icine. Her work helps dental professionals embrace the opportunities and understand the metrics that accurate insurance coding provides. The ADA recognized her expertise by inviting her to write a chapter in its CDT 2017 Companion book and again for its CDT 2018 Companion. She is the author of the DentalCodeology series of easy-to-read, bite-size books. Her latest book, "Teledentistry: Pathway to Pathology" was co-written with Cindy Purdy, RDH, BS. She can be reached at patti@dentalcodeology.com.

 Since 1991, people have had questions about alternating codes D4910 with D1110 for follow-up of periodontal care.

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