When a dentist chooses to outsource their insurance billing, the dental team might feel a little uneasy about the change that’s coming. It’s fair - outsourcing dental insurance billing is not the easiest transition for every dental practice. And there are certainly challenges that come with adding a remote dental billing specialist, especially when you’re not sure what changes are coming.
Remote dental claims support is a cost-effective solution to the strain that comes with insurance billing, and it will give the team a better work-life balance in the long run. However, that first month or so of the change is not without its hardships.
Dental ClaimSupport has spent over 10 years helping dental practices collect more from insurance companies, and prove our successful process of dental billing. But it’s not always a perfect change for dental practices, specifically regarding the dental team working with the outsourced billers.
In this article, we’re going to address the top difficulties we see dental teams have with outsourced dental billers and offer solutions to these challenges. By understanding and addressing these challenges, you and your team can work together to overcome them, in order to fully embrace the dental billing company that will help your practice collect more money and overall be in a better place financially.
1. Adjusting to the change of outsourcing dental claims tasks
It’s a fact that outsourcing your insurance billing is a huge change for your dental team. Getting used to this change can take some time, and some team members will be resistant to it.
The adjustment period that comes with outsourcing insurance billing should be addressed head-on, or else you risk the resistance you might feel from your in-house team manifest into something more.
And when we say something more, we mean that they won’t want to work with the billing company at all, and if the in-house dental team isn’t willing to be flexible - the billing company can’t get the job done.
Overcome this challenge: Give your team time to adapt, but also explain the purpose of outsourcing dental billing
Understanding that your team needs time to figure out how they’re going to work with the dental billing team is important for the dentist or business owner to know.
There’s going to be a learning curve as your team gets to know the dental billing company, and you have to leave room for that learning curve.
The adjustment period is eased up when the leader or dentist can effectively explain the purpose of outsourcing dental billing. Sure, the biller could explain it all day - but it means more to the administrative team coming from their leader.
The dental billing company is taking over the task of submitting claims, following up with claims, working the aging report, and appealing denied claims so that the in-house team can focus on insurance verification, patient care, scheduling, and everything else that comes with running a dental practice.
When your in-house dental team understands the roles and responsibilities clearly, it will make the adjustment period smoother.
2. Communication with the remote dental billing specialist
Once your team gets through the adjustment period of being introduced to a dental billing company, the next challenge is likely getting used to the communication involved.
Everyone communicates differently, and figuring out how to do so with a new person is a challenge in itself - in the workplace and in real life.
We’ve seen some offices really struggle working with outsourced billers because communication is so difficult. It’s an extra step in their day, and an extra person to include in their billing process that they were used to handling themselves.
Not to mention: it takes two - so if the biller is also difficult to communicate with… do something about it!
You can always tell the biller you need a different form of communication, or you can tell their superior when that communication is not going well. It's a mutual relationship that requires effort on both ends.
Overcome this challenge: prioritize communication with the biller in order to collect more money
The admin team doesn’t necessarily need to chat with their assigned biller every day, but there does need to be a clear line of communication established between the two parties.
What this looks like can be determined and agreed upon by both the administrative team and the biller in the beginning. Whether the best form of communication is text, call, email or video chat, you can decide this together.
Listen, we understand: this person is not in the dental office. You can’t pop your head over to their desk to ask a question. The relationship requires a bit more effort than that.
And when it comes to insurance billing, there’s likely going to be questions the biller will have in order to properly do their job. They’re also going to be sending you daily deposit reports, or reconciliation reports, so you’re going to hear from them at least once a day.
So instead of feeling like it’s a huge burden to be available to your remote biller, think of it like this: if you don’t answer their question or concern, you could be depriving them of information they need to get a claim paid.
And this can lose the practice money. It’s a lose-lose situation.
3. Working collaboratively
Once clear lines of communication have been established, the next big challenge - and sometimes the ongoing challenge - is working collaboratively.
Whether it’s because this biller is not a good fit for you, or your team is having a hard time letting the biller into the loop, there has to be a team player mindset.
We’ve seen offices shut out the remote biller because they feel very territorial about the insurance billing work. As we mentioned above, this just loses the dental practice money. And truly, it wastes time.
The biller is just as incentivized as you to get claims paid - they are typically paid based on how many payments they post! Think of them as working the back end of the business while you work the front end. You’re dealing with patients, the biller is dealing with insurance. Together you’re going to increase your collections through an organized and regimented billing process.
That is - if you can let them be a part of your team.
Learn how your dental team collaborates with the dental billing company in our Learning Center.
Overcome this challenge: trust in the expertise of your remote biller, and think of them as an extension of your admin team
By letting your remote biller take the bull by the horns of your insurance billing, you’re unlocking thousands of dollars in income, previously lost to insurance companies.
Their expertise is invaluable. While whoever was previously handling the insurance billing was also juggling patient billing, scheduling, and countless office duties, this biller is laser-focused on insurance billing alone.
Most billers have years of experience and continuous training on insurance billing. It’s a dense and complicated topic that requires someone who has the experience and time to take it on. The remote biller also has a pool of other experts to turn to for questions and advice and will fight to do what it takes to get your claims paid.
Not to mention - they are on your team! Their goals are the same as yours: to get claims paid. It’s not your fault insurance companies make it so hard to submit perfect claims that are reimbursed immediately. You can’t control that. But you can control the utilization of a tool that is going to work to the bone to get the revenue your dental practice has earned.
Ready to explore investing in outsourced dental billing?
Getting on board with the change that comes with outsourcing insurance billing can be difficult, but the return on investment is invaluable. The investment should not only pay for itself but cut your overhead costs. Clients typically save over 50% of their insurance billing overhead costs alone, before they count the revenue increase from higher collections.
A happier practice is another outcome. Workdays will be less stressful for the dental team once insurance billing is no longer giving them headaches and eating up hours of valuable office time. With this time back in their day, they can help bring in more patients, talk with them, and build better retention, which actually will also help the practice make more money too.
Once you can see your outsourced dental billing company as an incredible investment, you can focus on the other factors of the office that will help your practice bring in money. Dental ClaimSupport is focused on insurance billing but can offer advice for other revenue strategies for dental practices along the way if you ask.
To learn more about how outsourcing dental billing is an investment, visit our Learning Center.
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