Dental staff shortage issues: How outsourcing can fix them

Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, dental staffing shortages have been a growing challenge for many dental teams.   And following the pandemic, dental staff shortage issues have not gotten better, according to recent surveys.  Dentists have faced a high turnover among their office employees, as well as shortages of skilled hygienists and dental assistants. 

In a 2021 ADA poll, more than 70% of dentists said recruitment of administrative staff was extremely or very challenging and more than 50% of practice owners reported the same for recruiting associate dentists. 

Dental staff shortages make it difficult to keep your administrative tasks running smoothly. Association of Dental Support Services (ADSO) executive director Andrew Smith stated the dental staff shortage trend impacts DSO members too. High staff turnover can raise the cost of doing business, and this can affect your revenue. 

As a trusted dental billing partner, Dental ClaimSupport works to deliver cash flow that dental teams can count on through our billing services. By working closely with teams, we've heard directly from dentists that staffing front desk positions is one of the top issues lately. Not only do you need people to run your office, but you need skilled billing experts handling your insurance claims.

So what’s the solution? Should you raise front desk staff salaries to make the position more appealing? How do you find someone who has all of the right billing skills to make your dental practice successful? And how do you keep overhead costs from skyrocketing?

Outsourcing your billing can be a great option for dentists looking to control overhead, and also get vetted dental billing expertise needed to collect the payments you’ve earned. 

In this article, we will take you through why raising salaries isn’t necessarily the best solution to dental office staffing issues, why dental billing expertise is important for success, and why outsourcing is a great option if these are the issues you face. 

Should you raise dental front desk staff salaries to make the positions seem more appealing to potential hires?

One solution to dental staffing issues is to raise the hourly rate so that front desk positions appeal to more people. This causes other problems, however. High salaries drive up overhead in private practice where high overhead already takes a large bite out of revenue across the profession. 

Salaries are a big part of your overhead expenses, typically the largest. Employing skilled members of your dental team is important, but their skills cost money. On top of that, you need to account for the benefits and/or bonuses you provide – this savings calculator can help.

And you need an expert handling your insurance claims specifically. You need someone with plenty of experience and the skillset to move through your dental practice management software with ease and know the best practices to execute your insurance billing process. So if you hire this person in-house, with the right skills - it’s not going to come cheap.

Assigning dental insurance billing to the highest-paid office member may be counter-productive 

Another problem is the effort to recover the cost of the salary by adding dental insurance billing to the highest-paid person. This can make the problem of low profitability worse. 

Just because you are paying someone at a high rate, doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed the skills needed to handle your insurance billing. Simply raising salaries in order to keep your current administrative team, or entice someone else - does not fill the need for a specific set of skills.

If they don’t understand the ins and outs of insurance billing, they might make more mistakes when handling your claims. Mistakes on claims lead to delays in payment from insurance companies, and re-work that becomes unmanageable. 

Insurance billing requires a thorough understanding of the insurance claims process, and constant updates and adjustments to overcome the new ways insurance companies find to reduce or deny payment almost daily. Let’s get into the importance of experts handling your insurance billing.

Overcome skills shortages by finding experts to handle your dental practice income

Your front desk team serves many key functions at the dental practice - such as scheduling, office maintenance, and billing.

What many dentists are struggling with right now is finding someone to fill the role that requires the most specific set of skills: billing. 

According to the same ADA article on dental staff turnover, the people who are applying to admin jobs at dental practices currently, are seeking part-time as opposed to full-time employment. And some are new to the profession, requiring more on-the-job training.

Insurance billing specifically, is not something easily learned on the job. Plus, who will have time to train this person to handle insurance?

You need someone with years of experience, who knows how to deal with ever-changing tactics from insurance companies to downgrade or deny payment. If you want to be more profitable and independent, outsourcing is a great option in such situations.

The benefits of outsourcing your dental billing process to experts 

It has become increasingly more common for dentists to outsource their billing. a solution to dental staff shortage challenges. These billing companies have teams of insurance claims experts dedicated to making sure your claims are paid. 

With insurance companies making it more and more difficult to get your claims reimbursed after initial submission - dental teams are in search of a new solution. 

Working with DCS is not only a guarantee that your claims are handled by expert billers, but it is also a cost-effective solution that won’t increase your overhead expenses. It’s far less expensive than hiring an experienced in-house insurance coordinator - and you’re still getting the experienced biller. Using these services lowers your costs substantially as compared to hiring an employee. You can see your projected savings with this free dental billing savings calculator:

Here are just a few benefits of outsourcing your dental billing: 

• A dental billing service is generally less expensive than in-house billing, often about 60% less. Check out our savings calculator to see just how much you can save outsourcing your billing versus paying an employee’s salary. 
• Outsourced billing frees up your in-house team’s time to focus on patients. With more time, your dental team can educate patients on insurance coverage and treatment plans. This can make a huge impact on patient trust and experience. 
• The outsourced dental biller will be able to help your team stay up to date on industry changes. The billing company will guide your dental team when selecting proper codes, and can help train your team on other insurance regulations and best practices. Please note that for most dental billing companies, training is an add-on service.
• There are more eyes on your numbers. With experts helping post insurance claim payments to your software, you will receive more financial reporting - keeping you updated on how your practice is performing. You will also have a second set of eyes keeping watch for any suspicious activity such as embezzlement.

There are a lot of factors to consider when you decide to outsource your dental billing, and the reduction in staff turnover and overhead costs is just one of them. 

Ready to dive deeper into learning about outsourced dental billing and how it can mend your staffing issues?

If you’re facing a lot of turnover among your staff or having a hard time finding the right person to handle your billing, outsourcing your dental billing can be a profitable resource for you. You can count on your claims can get paid accurately and quickly - without spending too much on overhead costs.

Dental ClaimSupport has been helping dental teams reduce their staff turnover for over ten years, offering the unique skill set of insurance billing to teams in need. 

If you’re facing similar problems at your dental practice, continue exploring outsourced dental billing as an option. Read our Ultimate Guide to Outsourcing Your Dental Billing to deep dive into all of the questions you might have about it.