eAssist recently had the pleasure of being a guest speaker on Dental Nacho’s page! Check out the interview by clicking the video or reading the transcript below.
Dr. Nacho: So we’ve talked about how money moves through your practice, getting temporary help, doing implants, etc. I’m so excited for our next guest because somebody’s got to read the instructions to things in life! And these are two people who read the instructions. So tell us what you guys do. Your an awesome duo, Racheal and Tiffany. Share with us what you guys to do help dentists increase success, decrease stress, and reduce crying inside.
Racheal: Of course! Thank you so much for having us. eAssist Dental Solutions is also a Henry Schein company, and we really are the end-to-end solution that enhances the dental practice’s revenue cycle management. This really eases that burden on the office staff, which ultimately helps the practice to not only be more efficient and profitable, but also have that patient-focused care and why we’re all here in the first place.
Dr. Nacho: People can delegate annoyance to you. They can literally say, “We’re annoyed by these tasks.” And you say, “We’re eAssist, and we love this annoyance. We actually live for it! To figure out the codes, to figure out the billing.” This is such a personal thing to me because at the beginning of the pandemic, I said to my office manager Kate that we were going to outsource insurance billing. She said, “Paul we don’t need to do it. I can handle it.” I said, “There are half the people here Kate, you can’t do it!” She said, “I can do it.” I said, “Too bad, I’m in charge (haha). We’re going to test, not guess. We’re going to outsource insurance billing. And if after 90 days, you don’t like it, you can have it back.” Three years later, she said to me, “I just want to let you know, that was the best thing you ever did for me.” So I’ll ask you Tiffany and Racheal, how do practice owners have this discussion with the person doing it? Because it can be like, “Oh you’re not doing a good job or you can’t handle it. There is, I’ll share with you, that was Kate sitting across from me. I said “I’m going to take this off your plate.” And she said, “Keep it on there.” Could you talk to me a little bit about how dental practice owners and groups can present this to their office managers and people doing the billing.
Racheal: Yeah, I think that’s a great question. And, you know, running with the trend of analogies as we do with dental nachos. My favorite analogy is to talk about a parenting analogy. When you have a child that you’re taking care of, you might hire a babysitter. When you hire a babysitter, that babysitter isn’t there to take over Mom and Dad’s job. But it gives you back that breath of fresh air. Now, you can focus on all the other things that you can’t while you’re taking care of those kids. So just like in the office, you have to have so many hats that you’re fulfilling. eAssist comes in and partners with the front desk. Our goal isn’t to replace them, but really give them those optimal resources and an assistant. Who wouldn’t want an assistant in their day-to-day that helps them through and just gives them that efficiency back? Gives them that peace of mind, and like you had said, comes back and is like “I am so glad that we did this.” Because now they can focus on all the other things in the office that usually ties them up on a day-to-day basis.
Dr. Nachos: I love that. And you can add in, Tiff or Racheal. I like that we have our team there to interact with patients and make the experience as pleasant as possible because it’s also annoying to be at the dentist, right? So we have our people there to process that experience. But then they’re distracted by things behind the scenes. So I often liken it to when someone invites you to a party at their house with 40 people, and they spend their whole time in the kitchen getting drinks and cleaning up but they never talk to you. I always think, you really should’ve hired someone to do this party because I’m standing by myself in your living room. But they say, I gotta go do all these other things. So I say to my team, everything we do is to give them those moments so they can reflect on a patient’s confusion. So that they can champion something that we do. I think offices when they outsource, they see that they’ve unlocked an opportunity to enhance their patient experience. That is the ah hah moment. Tiffany, anything you would like to add on the eAssist world?
Tiffany: Yeah, over at Practice Booster, we focus on coding and insurance administration and making sure that offices are coding for what they do and submitting current and up-to-date coding vs. deleted codes. We always talk about how important it is to have updated coding resources, each and every single year. There are a lot of offices out there that are like, “Eh, you know, maybe I need a new resource every other year – maybe every three years.”
Dr. Nachos: You’re so right, because sometimes I’m like, “Do this implant code.” And then it doesn’t exist anymore, and I’ve got to get the Blair book (which I know you have). I’m still 45, but the book is nice! Sometimes, it takes you eight seconds to look in a book. Other times, it takes you 14 clicks inside of a window. Bring me back paper charts! You know what happened when I had a paper chart and I needed to find an implant, guys? I just opened it up and said, “Oh Nobel Biocare 5.0” Now, when I try to find it through my paperless charts, it’s sometimes takes me to 14 Windows. This does not mean digital versions are bad. This does not mean that you shouldn’t have the digital version of your book. But there’s such value to having something to rely on. Because why do they do this, Tiffany? Why do the codes just evaporate?
Tiffany: They’re trying to optimize and streamline things. With the messaging of coding, you know for what you do, every year the code maintenance committee meets in March to hash out and figure out the new codes that they’re going to approve. The great news is that any dentist out there can go to the ADA’s website and search for code maintenance committee. They can go in and suggest a code change! They can suggest a change, and they can request that a code be added. Then the code maintenance committee will meet on that in March and talk about it. Then they decide if that’s something they want to release in the new code set. It’s crazy when you think about it because just in the last three years alone, we’ve had 160 code changes. So, if you aren’t replacing your coding resources. If you haven’t replaced your coding resources in three years, you’ve missed out on 160 different code changes.
Dr. Nachos: Yeah, so this is why we have you guys here. You can text ASSIST to 215-543-6454 to learn more from our sponsor. But as we wrap up with both of you, what does it look like to work with eAssist? People hear these great ideas. They say, “Yes, I’m going to outsource this and find this.” But what’s the granular part of getting started. Do you do a demo? Do you go on zoom? Do you get your office manager to call? Walk us through that, Racheal.
Racheal: Really, I love to just spend time to learn more about the practice areas where you have those vulnerabilities. Then we can talk about what solutions we have for those problems. So a consultative approach is the best way to start. You can always reach out to me directly, you can message me here on our Dental Nachos Facebook group, and then we can find a time to coordinate and find out exactly what’s going on in the office and how eAssist can help.
Dr. Nachos: Awesome, well I appreciate you guys existing and making this a thing that more people do! I do want to share that we are a very collaborative community, where we have more than one person doing marketing, etc. And the reason why that is so awesome for your guys’ space is because when office managers say, “Oh yeah, my boss is doing that too.” It normalizes it. It normalizes making a point that’s online with Dental Intel. That used to be crazy to do. It normalizes text messaging. I think there’s such an awesome opportunity for all companies that remove this stress and grow and make dentistry better. Tiffany, how about in your world? What does it look like to get started working with Practice Booster?
Tiffany: Sure, so you can to go our website practicebooster.com or send an email to info@practicebooster.com. And we have an amazing team that can answer any and every question that you possibly have about the different resources that we have available. Then, with the Online Code Advisor subscription. It’s an electronic digital way of typing in a code or keyword and getting what you need. Anyone with an Online Code Advisor subscription then has access to our support center. So if you’ve got questions, you’re digging through your resources and still can’t find it, have no fear! We will be here to answer any of the questions that you have so that you can get the money off the books and into the bank.
Dr. Nachos: Awesome, I love that! Please tell the eAssist team it’s mandatory for you guys to come to our next event in person for cheesesteaks and CE. Say that it’s a mandatory Nacho request for you guys. I’d love to see you guys in Philadelphia. Thanks so much for being on with me!
Tiffany: Thank you so much.
Racheal: Thank you, take care!
Dr. Nachos: Awesome, everyone. As we wrap up, I hope you had fun, I hope you realized there’s ways to be way less frustrated.
