Outsourcing services from multiple companies as a dentist: Pros and cons

As staffing becomes increasingly more difficult for dentists/dental practice owners, many are looking to outsourcing services. These services include insurance billing, patient billing, insurance verification, and scheduling. You’re considering looking into outsourcing to multiple different companies for these services but are wondering if this is an efficient route to financial success. 

As a dental billing company that is hyper-focused on getting dentists’ claims paid, we have worked with offices that outsource other services from other companies. Through 10 years of experience, we have seen how multiple outsourcing services can be a beneficial choice and how it can create some problems.

This article will explain the pros and cons of outsourcing multiple services from multiple companies as a dental practice. 

Here’s a spoiler for you: The success of outsourcing, in any case, is highly dependent on expectations and communication. Once you understand the pros and cons of both choices, you will be able to decide what will make your dental practice the most productive.

Why are dentists outsourcing at all?

The past few years have been hard as a business owner of any kind since the 2020 pandemic. Not only is it hard to find the right skills and employees you need for your dental practice, but it’s also hard to compensate them accordingly with recent inflation. 

Because of this, outsourcing services at your dental practice has become a more cost-effective option for many. It’s almost always less expensive than paying a full-time salary and benefits, and you can find experts to handle the services you need, knowing they specialize in even the most niche services - like dental insurance billing.

As we mentioned above, dentists tend to outsource their billing (insurance and patient), insurance verification, and scheduling. 

And the biggest challenge that dentists can face from this is people stepping on each other's toes - especially because some of these tasks intertwine with one another. But let’s get into more detail on the pros and cons of using more than one company for different services.

Pros of outsourcing multiple companies for different services 

The biggest pro to outsourcing certain services, even if they are from different companies, is that you’re spending less money typically. 

For example, the salary of a full-time, experienced insurance coordinator is going to be around $50,000-$60,000 per year. On the other hand, the price of an outsourced insurance billing company is going to cost you as low as $1,400 per month. This adds up to about $16,800 per year. 

This in itself is a huge reduction in overhead costs. Salaries make up the majority of overhead expenses and this can add $30,000 back into your stream of revenue. 

Related: The cost of outsourced dental billing vs in-house dental billing

Another appeal to outsourcing multiple companies for different services is the specialization in that service. This means that the company you’re outsourcing to - whether it be for insurance verification or dental billing - specializes in that process. They have experts who will work with you that have years of knowledge handling these services for practices. 

Knowing you have experts handling different facets of your dental practice can not only make your business more profitable, but it can also be a huge weight off of your shoulders. You know it’s handled by an expert service provider. 

Another pro to outsourcing? You don’t have to spend time training anyone. 

Hiring an in-house employee that is on the more affordable side will likely come with training. This means you will have to spend time with them making sure they understand your processes, your practice management software, and your protocol. This takes a lot of time away from your own responsibilities and even patients. 

When you outsource, they are already trained on best practices for whatever task you’re outsourcing. They just need to know what adjustments they need to make to work with your office specifically. This onboarding process is likely much shorter than with a brand new employee. 

Now let’s get into the cons. 

Cons of outsourcing multiple companies for different services

Handling multiple companies working for your dental practice can present a few challenges. 

One of those challenges is keeping up with each company. Depending on the service you’re outsourcing, you’ll need to stay in regular communication with your point of contact. This doesn’t necessarily mean you talk to every representative of that service every day. 

But as the business owner or leader, you will be tracking or monitoring the progress of each service to make sure you’re getting the results you paid for. 

This can feel like a lot of work if you’re having to do this with multiple points of contact. If you have in-house employees handling every part of your dental practice - all you have to do is chat with them in the office about how their job is going. You don’t necessarily have to set up Zoom meetings or send emails. 

Another con is these points of contact stepping on each other’s toes. 

Depending on which services you outsource, there are parts of your dental practice that intersect with one another. 

For example, if you outsource to two different companies for insurance verification and patient billing, there’s a chance each person’s work is going to affect the others. The way around this would be communicating with each point of contact and getting in touch with one another when working on your dental practice. 

Having your in-house team work on these tasks in the office together makes it easier to collaborate because if there are questions or concerns, they can be addressed immediately in person.

Successfully outsource your dental billing through good communication and clear expectations

The key to all healthy relationships is communication. This also applies to the companies you outsource services to as a dental practice. As long as you are putting in the time and effort to help each party collaborate with the other and put them in contact with one another if their tasks intersect - you should have no problems outsourcing multiple companies 

Dental ClaimSupport has successfully worked with dental practices that outsource to different companies for different tasks. Our billers help lessen the stress of claims work so that your in-house team can focus on serving your patients. 

To learn more about how to successfully outsource your dental billing, schedule a call with our billing experts.