Dental Insurance Articles
The Role Of The Dentist In Making Sure Insurance Claims Are Paid
2010-11-09
When you leave your dentist from a procedure do you know what role he or she plays towards payment of dental insurance claims? When you sign up with your insurance carrier they receive dental insurance quotes from numerous dentists. They negotiate prices with dentists to try and control costs. They then choose based upon cost, and reputation of the dentist. This is how they are able to provide you with an annual plan.
The dentist must sign off on insurance claims. They are the authority on what services were provided to the patient. They are the reference point on claims that are received which are submitted for payment. All claims must list services and procedures with medical codes and pricing. This can be done by the dentist or a staff member. Insurance claims must be checked for errors or omissions prior to submission to the insurance provider.
The dentist also makes sure that all claims are filed prior to insurance deadlines. This is important or they will not get paid for services rendered. Once the deadline has passed there is no way to recoup the claim. If any claims have not been paid they will need to contact the insurance company to investigate the reason why payment has not been processed. Some of these reasons could be due to price conflicts from dental insurance quotes, incorrect or misspelled patient names, typing errors, or even filing to the wrong carrier. Finally, the carrier can state that they never received the insurance claim at all.
Cash flow is vital to any dentist or dental practice. Insurance claims make sure that money is paid for bills from vendors, payroll for staff, overhead and upkeep, as well as salary and income for the dentist. Many dentists are not able to handle patients as well as insurance claims. The bulk of these are completed by a staff member assigned to this task. This provides the dentist the opportunity to see more patients, which generates more revenue and cash flow to the business.
The role of the dentist for insurance claims is one of an overall manager or owner of the dental office. If they are a part of a dental group they will verify with the billing staff which services were performed with patients. They will set the prices for dental insurance quotes which are given to the insurance companies. This allows them to be listed in the insurance listing for the insurance carrier which can generate more business to the dentist. Cash flow is important to the dentist as they will stay abreast of any claims that are unpaid with staff to help get them cleared