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Dental billing processes shouldn’t take up the bulk of your office’s bandwidth. Yet, keeping up with patient payments and coordinating with insurance companies along with other administrative work can unnecessarily drain staff resources.

If the wheels aren’t turning at an ideal pace, the work of dental billing can add up and even hold the team back from excelling other areas, such as patient care.

With the assistance of a remote billing company, you can streamline operations and free up time to focus on what matters the most: delivering high-quality dental care and top-notch customer service.

Read on to learn about some of the most common billing complications that many dental offices face, and how remote billing can address them in a cost-effective and time-saving manner.

Inefficiencies that hurt patient retention

A single dental officer manager can handle both treatment plans and account receivables. But there is a possible tipping point, when billing complications begin to overburden them and take away from resources that should be dedicated to other patient and business areas.

At this point, there’s a possibility of hurting the patient ledger. As work piles up, other setbacks could follow. Ultimately, patients will begin to take notice of perceived inefficiencies within the dental office. The loss of patients equals loss in revenue, trust and business.

Unpaid bills pile up

Without a robust billing system, the number of patients who do not make payments may begin to grow. Simple errors involving insurance billing can make matters extra sticky and drain staff resources as workers scramble to make it right. The inevitable accumulation of unpaid bills can take its toll.

Some practices attempt to correct course by taking on more patients. Unfortunately, this can further complicate matters as the underlying issue remains in play.

Sometimes, front office staff will put in more hours to keep up with collections as a growing number of patients are processed through automated systems that claim to streamline billing and collections services, but don’t offer much support in the big picture.

Denied claims

Another major headache beyond unpaid bills is denied claims.

When the insurance company issues a denial, your office has to move quickly to make an appeal to recoup what you are rightfully owed. There’s no assurance that this process will be successful or get resolved quickly. As a result, denied claims leave support staff to take on more administrative work with less time to focus on the patient experience.

Drains overall resources

Depending on the individual office’s operations and setup, dental billing can drain staff hours. If the job rests upon the shoulders of one staff member, there’s a strong likelihood that other areas of the practice will lack attention.

Staff must have sufficient time to respond to patient questions and provide great service, review treatment plans, handle calls and emails, work with insurance companies and manage account receivables.

Without a quality and high-functioning billing system, staff is deprived of time and energy to carry out all the income-generating functions of your dental practice.

Remote billing as a solution

The benefits of remote billing are far-reaching. It can save on costs, lessen paperwork and give your practice back the time it needs to achieve your standard of care.

It’s understandable for some dental practices to shy away from remote dental billing solutions. Some dental practices can’t justify the expense.

Remote billing, however, is designed to save on costs, not increase them. This is possible because of a number of factors. With insourcing, your dental practice will have to invest in a new hire, equipment, software, office space and other capital and ongoing costs. Instead, you can sign on for remote billing assistance for a flat fee and gain access to an entire team of experts.

Another benefit of remote billing is cutting back on paperwork. Dental billing calls for a huge amount of paperwork. With remote help, this becomes a non-issue. All documentation is facilitated by the remote billing team who will organize and keep all files current. With less paperwork, your dental office will also save on the need for equipment and other hardware that handles large paper loads.

Working with a remote billing company will naturally free up the precious resource of time needed for enhanced patient care. Your new remote partners will be dedicated to focus on dental billing, collections and other functions in accordance with appropriate regulations such as HIPAA.

Software as a solution

If you still determine that remote dental billing services are unnecessary for your practice, software enhancements can fill in some of the gaps as a partial solution. For example, filing and organizing software can advance your current system and resolve some recurring technical issues that drain staff resources.

A secure online network is another important piece of the puzzle. An advanced system will keep patient data secure at all times, prevent costly hacks and will reinforce trust with your patients.

Virtual assistants as a solution

With the aid of a virtual assistant, dental offices can clear some time and lessen overall workloads. This could allow front office managers more time to work directly with patients.

By spreading out the workload with the help of a virtual assistant, you can expect to reduce billing errors, increase cumulative team expertise and speed up applications and claims among other benefits.

While there are many solutions that can improve snags in your billing workflow, remote billing solutions provide the smoothest and most comprehensive pathway to increased revenue. A reputable company will help improve your billing processes, enhance accuracy and free up your staff from the restraints of what can feel like never-ending tasks associated with billing. The increased resources and time that can be redirected toward patients is invaluable.

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