What did Dental Claim Support learn at the AADOM conference?

We had an amazing time at the 2021 AADOM conference. We sent 3 members of our team to attend: One of our founders, Josh Smith, our head of sales, Tyler Bell and our Chief Claims Officer, Dilaine Gloege. 

All three of them came back with great stories and takeaways after talking with fellow participants of the conference.

Takeaway #1: People need to know they can get valuable practice administration skills through education specifically made for managers

Practice administration skills are invaluable because they enable managers to   

• Know and use procedure codes such as the CDT and ICD-10-CM
• Provide needed oversight to see that the right documentation is provided on claims, 
• Provide leadership to guide compliance with rules so that all income is legitimate.

Dilaine noted: “People are really excited to have access to this knowledge that they didn’t know existed,” described Gloege. “Office managers don’t go to dental school, so they don’t have anyone educating them on billing, insurance, or anything related to the administrative side of  dental. They saw what Dental Claims Academy could give them and felt like there was finally a place for their yearn to learn.”

Takeaway #2: There’s a real hunger to know best practices for the billing process. People want to know how to make their practice operate more smoothly and efficiently.

Education on the specifics of dental billing is hard to come by, and it’s encouraging to see a specialized group of people excited about it. 

Josh noted: “I was amazed at the hunger each office manager, doctor, and team member had to improve their own dental practice. Many times, these conventions can be seen as a 'mini vacation', but not the AADOM conference. We thoroughly enjoyed how engaged all the attendees were with the different vendors. And I'll admit, It puts a smile on your face when people have heard of your business and want to know more.”

Takeaway #3: It’s easy to overestimate the practicality of doing claims-in house - so it’s worthwhile to talk directly with providers to learn how a service can help a practice run better.

Practice managers and dentists often think they ‘should’ do claims in-house because on the surface, paying for billing support looks like a needless cost. Plus you have direct access to your biller for oversight and control.

But when you dig into the time it takes to educate yourself so you can supervise, train, and resolve problems, costs mount up on a deeper level. You lose time and energy for patient care and growth efforts that you’re too busy to do. That’s when billing services become a way to give the people working in person the freedom to do higher value work, because they’re in the best position to respond in real time to you and your patients.

It was gratifying to see that our billing services excited visitors at the Dental Claim Support booth. 

Bell explained: “People really didn’t realize they could have someone else take care of their billing the way we can. They had heard of us, but meeting us face-to-face and learning about us straight from the source got them really excited about the possibilities that lie with outsourcing.“

We saw that a big pain-point for office managers was lack of knowledge on how to approach their billing process and how they can avoid missing out on well-earned money from insurance companies.

AADOM brings together many people facing similar issues

It’s special when so many different people from different places can come together and share similar experiences. We loved sharing in the camaraderie between office managers and dentists at the AADOM conference. 

Understanding and getting paid by insurance frustrates most people, which is why we’re so glad our offerings were received so positively. It’s clear that office managers are eager to learn and improve their knowledge of dental billing.

To continue learning about Dental Claim Support and our service offerings, visit our website and Dental Claims Academy. 

We can’t wait to see all our “new” friends next year at the 17th Annual Dental Management Conference to be held September 8-10, 2022 at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort in Arizona.