Are you paying too much for dental billing support?

Outsourcing billing has become pretty common for dental practices. Dealing with insurance is such a time-consuming process that it only makes sense to either have at least one person dedicated to it on your team, or outsource the insurance billing process to someone else. As you use these billing services, you might ask yourself, “Am I overpaying for my insurance billing?”

It’s understandable to want a fair price that covers all of the services you want. At Dental ClaimSupport, we have been in the dental billing industry since 2012.  We learned quickly that we needed to be very transparent about pricing and understand that all consumers want to see the value in what they pay for. We’ve learned over the years that being transparent is what builds trust with current and potential customers.

In this article, we will answer the burning question, “Am I paying too much for dental billing support?” and how you can figure out what is right for you when it comes to outsourcing your billing. We will compare market prices for outsourced dental billing companies and compare market rates for insurance coordinators handling this function in-house in dental practices across the United States.

How much should I expect to pay for a dental billing service? 

With most dental billing companies, you can view their monthly rates on their website. We consider our service price somewhere in the middle of expensive and inexpensive compared to other billing companies, with our minimum cost starting at $1,300 per month. 

We have an article breaking down all of the top billing companies that may be of use to you, if you’d like to compare prices and services. 

The truth is, the more established billing companies are priced relatively fairly, but some dentists  are still over paying for in-house insurance coordinators, newer or smaller billing companies, and outsourced individuals.

Prices from companies vary for each company based on practice size, meaning total insurance collections per month. 

Pricing can be fixed, which is typical in office size under $40k to $50k in insurance collections. The pricing will likely be between $1250-$1300.

If your office collects LESS than $40k insurance, and you are paying more than $1300, you are overpaying for your service.

After $40k insurance collections, prices become variable based on a percentage. The normal percentage rate for this “tier,” is 3.5% up to $100k in insurance collections. If your office is collecting more than $100k each month in insurance, your percentage should be between 2 and 3.5%.

If your office collects MORE than $40k in insurance, and you are paying more than 3.5% of your insurance collections, you are overpaying for your service.

How much should I expect to pay for a dental insurance coordinator?

The average annual salary of an insurance coordinator is $18.26 per hour, or $37,971 per year, plus benefits according to a Ziprecruiter article from September of 2021, entitled “How much do dental insurance coordinator jobs pay her hour?”

If you break down an annual salary of $37,971, you are paying an in-house insurance coordinator $3,164 per month, plus any benefits and taxes.

If your office collects LESS than $40k in insurance collections, and you are paying an insurance coordinator more than $7.50 per hour, you are overpaying for insurance billing.  

In-house W2 employees have overhead costs above and beyond their hourly or salary rate.  W2 employees for any business cost on average 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary range. This extra compensation includes employer taxes such as social security, federal and state unemployment, Medicare, workers’ comp insurance, payroll costs, as well as any benefits you may offer.  

The average cost to your dental practice for a W2 employee making $18.26 per hour is actually $50,325 per year, or $4,194 per month. For the math breakdown, check out “How much does outsourced dental billing costs?”

In the chart below, there are Examples of different office sizes in Column B, to be determined by the Office Insurance Collections per month. The Outsourced Invoice (DCS) in Column C is how much your bill would be with Dental ClaimSupport.  

We then calculate the average monthly costs to employ an In-House Salary @ $18.26 per hour in Column D.  In Column E, we explain the DCS versus In-House Savings per Month, meaning how much you are overpaying for an in-house insurance coordinator based on Column B, per month.

If your office collects $100k in insurance collections, and you are paying an insurance coordinator more than $18 per hour, you are overpaying for insurance billing.  According to the chart above, you are overpaying by $693.75, per month.

Recommended: Calculate your insurance coordinator salary down to a monthly rate.  Next, calculate your monthly rate to use an outsourced dental billing company. Then, compare the two to determine if you are overpaying for this service.

Schedule a call if you want to discuss where your office savings would be in more detail.

I know I’m paying too much for my dental insurance coordinator, but I’m loyal. What should I do?

Loyalty to a staff member is very common in the dental industry. And we see this is almost every practice we speak with. The question then becomes, “Can I remain loyal to my dental staff while outsourcing my billing?”   In this article, we explain how outsourcing your billing will actually be doing your admin team a huge favor.

You are great at what you do.  Dentistry comes natural because that’s been your passion for as long as you can remember. Running a business may not be your passion but now it’s in your blood. At the end of the day, however, you have two very differing jobs.  

In one case, you are an employee. Being an employee of your dental practice is a big job. You come to work every day to put smiles on the faces of your patients. You’re likely very good at your first job.

Your second job is to be an entrepreneur, the business owner.  Running the business side of your practice can sometimes be harder than performing the dentistry. Being in control is easy and hard all at the same time, but it all depends on the day.  

To make the right decisions for you and your practice, here are some things you can do to determine if you are losing money. First, you need to evaluate the performance of your current insurance coordinator or your outsourced dental billing company.  

How is your collections percentage? Is it over or under the national average of 91%? Are your claims being sent and paid in a timely manner? Is your aging report being worked regularly? How many claims over 30 days? 60 days? And 90 days?  These are the kinds of questions you should be asking yourself when evaluating the performance of your insurance coordinator.

Ready to learn more about what kind of prices you should be looking for?

Figuring out what kinds of prices are right for your dental practice can feel daunting, but that’s why we have plenty of resources for you to turn to when evaluating prices. 

We’re here to help you make the right decisions when it comes to dental billing. Learn more about pricing and what makes sense for your practice by scheduling a call with us at Dental ClaimSupport.