Do it right, not over: hidden secrets to insurance efficiency

If you took a poll of all the dental offices across the United States, their number one frustration would be the challenge of dealing with insurance claims. Dental benefits plans can have limited payment amounts, claims can get delayed or lost in the processing, and claims reviewers will often lower payment on a dental treatment by paying an alternate benefit. Filing claims and receiving reimbursement for them has remained a frustration for decades. With dental plans numbering in the thousands, there are countless confusing rules and regulations in the processing; there are exclusions, alternate benefit guidelines, specific policies, frequency limitations, and complicated contact information, to name a few. Needless to say many mistakes are made in filing these dental claims, causing the need for multiple submissions. This, in turn, can cause delays, resulting in an out-of-control accounts receivable situation. Dentistry has, for years, allowed patients to depend on them 100 percent for the accuracy of their dental benefits and the outcome of their dental claims. This should be a shared responsibility.