5 Steps to Ensure Your Practice’s Dental Billing is Accurate

Accurate dental billing is the backbone of any successful dental practice. It not only ensures a steady cash flow but also improves patient satisfaction and ensures compliance with insurance provider requirements.

Inaccurate billing, on the other hand, can lead to revenue loss, poor patient retention, and even legal consequences. How can you ensure that accurate dental billing is prioritized at your dental practice?

Here are 5 steps you should take to see to it that your practice is getting the most out of its dental billing processes.

1. Choose the Right Software or Billing Partner

The right dental billing software can significantly reduce human error and streamline the billing process. We can help guide you through a variety of billing solutions that offer features like claim scrubbing and real-time eligibility verification. Features like these can help you catch errors before you submit claims and ensure that all necessary information is included.

2. Train Everyone in Your Dental Practice

The foundation of accurate dental billing is a well-trained staff. This includes administrative staff, billing coordinators, and even dentists! Every worker in your dental practice needs to understand how their work factors into your dental billing processes. For staff members who are in charge of billing, regular training sessions on the latest billing codes, insurance policies, and billing software updates are important to keep your team proficient and up to date.

3. Audit Your Business

Regular internal and annual third-party audits are also important for identifying and correcting billing errors. Audits are a great way to uncover common mistakes, such as incorrect patient information, missing signatures, or incorrect codes. By identifying these issues early and determining what is causing them in the first place, you can take corrective actions to prevent them from happening again. You can only address problems if you know that they exist in the first place.

4. Streamline Collecting Patient Information

Accurate billing is only possible when you have the correct patient information on file. Make sure that your practice has a streamlined process for collecting and confirming patient information. Patient information includes details like the patient’s name and date of birth, insurance information, and anything else that may be relevant for billing. Make sure that you confirm information before your patient shows up for their appointment and again at the appointment, just in case anything has changed.

5. Keep Billing Policies Clear and Accessible

Clearly explaining the billing process to patients is important, as many people do not know what to expect. Are you going to collect their obligation at their appointment or via an invoice later? Answering basic questions like this in advance reduces confusion and improves the dental billing process. Additionally, having clear billing policies can help both your staff and patients understand the billing process. Your policies should cover payment due dates, insurance handling, patient responsibilities, and steps for dispute resolution. Make sure these policies are easily accessible on your website.

[Editor's Note: The author, Gavi Cohn, is a partner at Apex Reimbursement Specialists, a dental practice revenue cycle and practice management consulting firm headquartered in Baltimore, MD. He writes regularly for Dental Practice Management, and you can read “How Improving Your Billing Can Improve the Patient Experience at Your Dental Practice” by clicking here.]

Whether you’re looking for a way to make the insurance verification process easier or hoping to improve your overall patient communication plan, companies like APEX Reimbursement Specialists can help.

For additional articles focusing on practice management and financial matters related to dentists, visit Dental Practice Management and Dentist’s Money Digest.