3 reasons you need a dedicated billing line

Most dental offices use not only the telephone but email, fax, text, and social media to communicate with patients and other business representatives. Even with all of these options available, the telephone is the most direct line of communication to your office. According to Dental News, around 80% of patient communication occurs through the phone. Even if your office has a scheduling widget or button on your website, Google reports that 70% of mobile searchers will still end up calling the office. Your phone line may be stretched too thin, and your dental practice revenue health depends on it being free and clear. Imagine a new patient’s frustration when they call your office and no one answers. This is why you need a dedicated billing line in your practice. Let’s talk more about why.

Improve your dental practice revenue health

When all of your patients are calling your office phone line, there are surprises around every ring. Will it be an insurance carrier calling back? Will it be a patient needing a balance explained? Will it be a new patient in pain? When you have a dedicated billing line, you can route your patient and insurance billing calls to that number, freeing up your office phone for patients that need to schedule. This keeps the front desk team focused on filling the schedule, your dental practice revenue health in the black, and also eliminates tough conversations being overhead at the front desk or in the lobby.

Improve your dental practice patient retention rate

Nearly 90% of new patients that are sent to voicemail, put on hold, or not appropriately greeted, will not call back. If the largest percentage of your patient base schedules via telephone, it makes sense to keep your practice telephone line open and available. After all, you want to make it as easy as possible to schedule in your office. If your office telephone line is tied up because a front desk team member is on the phone chasing down payment from an insurance carrier or patient, you are missing out on a potential lifetime patient — who can generate at least $4,500 in revenue (excluding referrals) in their lifetime with a practice.

Reduce your dental practice stress level

Most insurance carriers have website portals, but the fact still remains that in order to get the most detailed information on an outstanding insurance claim, processed payment, or plan benefits, you need to talk to an insurance representative on the phone. With insurance hold times averaging about 43 minutes per call, this is added stress on the dental administrative team. With battling priorities — Do I stay on hold for this outstanding revenue, or do I answer the new patient phone call? — and no clear direction, dental administrators often err on the side of the patient. This means the insurance verifications and outstanding accounts receivable take a back seat, along with your immediate and long-term dental practice revenue health. 

While this is by no means the wrong strategy, the outstanding receivables still need to be followed up on, and the patient benefits still need to be verified for smooth dental billing processes. So how can you get all of this revenue into your practice without maxing out your front desk team?

eAssist Dental Solutions is the dental billing company that can help

The eAssist Dental Solutions platform provides dental offices with dental insurance billing and patient billing services that reduce stress, can help to improve your dental practice revenue health, and keep your phone line open. Offices that pair these two services together see tremendous benefits, such as:

• Primary & secondary claims sent with all necessary attachments, daily
• Timely, line-item posting of insurance payments
• A dedicated patient billing phone line answered by our team, freeing up the office line for scheduling
• Timely follow-up on ALL outstanding accounts receivable
• Patient ledger audits after insurance payments have been received
• Electronic statements sent to patients on a consistent basis via your office’s dental software
• Optional online payment portal for safe, secure patient payments
• Custom letters and patient phone calls to collect outstanding balances
• Daily & weekly accountability reports
• A team that is motivated to help you collect 100% of what you’re rightfully owed from patients and insurance companies

What are you waiting for? CLICK HERE to start your enrollment now! Still have questions? Follow this link to schedule a no-obligation consultation with a Business Development Specialist.