Why practices hand billing to a dedicated team rather than adding it to the front desk.
As a former dental office manager, dental assistant and treatment plan coordinator, I learned so many things while working in the dental field. For example, I learned that each team member is codependent on the cooperation and attention to detail of the others. If one team member is not putting in their best effort, it can have a ripple effect on the entire office. This is especially true for the administrative team.
My experience working as an office manager inspired me to start a remote dental billing service. I saw firsthand how overwhelming it is for team members to pack their responsibilities into their day. My objective was to offer a solution to that problem.
I am not alone in this. There are many remote dental billing services, and more and more people looking to get out of the office and work remotely. The future for millennials and Gen Z is vastly different from that of previous generations, and this was realized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once people learned that they do not physically need to be onsite to be productive, they decided to stay home, or to live out their dreams of being expats in the country of their choice.
This can be very positive for dental practices. Hiring several people a year and training them, only to repeat the process again and again, on top of the taxes for maintaining employees, can be reduced greatly with this transition. A remote billing service can reduce the hassle and expense of employee turnover by offering a solution to one of the leading causes of resignation in the dental front office: stress.
Below are some of the ways remote services can be beneficial for your practice.
Insurance is becoming more and more difficult to work with. The lack of information given online or on fax backs is becoming a problem, and the availability of representatives is decreasing, causing long hold times for front office staff. Having someone behind the scenes who can dedicate uninterrupted time to getting the coverage details you need is a real help to the in-office staff.
Having someone keeping up with predeterminations, appeals and requests for additional information helps too, because it means somebody is paying attention to the things that often get overlooked or forgotten.
Billing is the necessary part of running a dental practice that most employees dread. Simply put, it can be uncomfortable asking patients for money. In my experience, many new employees have no idea why there is a remaining balance, and are taken aback when patients ask them to explain it. A remote billing service is well accustomed to finding the source of a remaining balance, because they handle it routinely across multiple dental software packages.
The objective of remote dental services is to assist your current team, not to replace them. Your practice will still need a front office team for many other tasks, such as keeping up with the schedule, assisting patients with checking in and checking out, presenting treatment plans and, most importantly, offering patients a personable smiling face to talk to. Our objective is to reduce the workload for your front office team, to keep their faces smiling as well as the patients’.
Patients like to have trust in the dental practice they go to, and the last thing anyone wants is an unpleasant surprise. Clear, early communication about what a plan covers, and proper notification of out of pocket expenses, will give your patients confidence that your office is looking out for their best interest.
Reach out today to discuss in more detail how remote dental billing can enhance your practice.
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