Most offices manage insurance poorly due to a lack of knowledge, understanding, or training. Bad insurance management often results in bad reviews; about 50% of complaints offices get are related to billing and insurance concerns.
Yet every office in the country deals with dental insurance, even fully FFS offices. So, should practices just avoid dealing with dental insurance?
As alluring as it may sound, this option simply isn't viable. Dental insurance is a benefit many patients want to utilize, even in FFS offices.
The good news is that there are some simple action steps you can start applying right now to improve your practice's dental insurance management.
For example, let's look at the number one complaint on most negative reviews: estimates.
Of course, everyone knows insurance companies won't tell you to the penny where they're going to cover. Many times, they also won't tell you whether they're going to cover a service or treatment or not.
As a dental professional, the challenging part is to come up with an accurate estimate which ensures the patient is not spending unexpectedly out-of-pocket money. Otherwise, patients will get mad and leave negative reviews - and rightly so!
So, a good rule of thumb is that if you aren't 99% certain that insurance will pay for something, keep lowering that number until you are.
Do you want to learn more?
Tune in to this week's 'The Raving Patients Podcast' episode!
Dental business coach and practice owner Travis Campbell joins me to discuss why getting insurance management right can help you win better patient advocates and more positive online reviews.
You'll learn the best insurance management practices, the truth about pre estimates, and some tips and tricks on improving patient reimbursement.
This podcast is sponsored by Cloud Dentistry, the largest dental talent marketplace. Find out more at: http://www.clouddentistry.com/Len
