Dental billing outsourcing companies: Zentist and eAssist Dental Solutions

Every dental practice owner knows the importance of efficient revenue cycle management. From overhead costs to dental billing, there are numerous solutions to the end goal of streamlined and consistent profit. One of these is outsourcing, where your dental insurance claims are handled by a dedicated company instead of your in-office staff. Outsourcing your dental billing processes is a great option, keep reading to find out why — but the list of dental billing outsourcing companies out there is lengthy and overwhelming. Which one is the best fit for your dental practice? In this article, we break down two dental billing outsourcing companies in the U.S.A: Zentist and eAssist Dental Solutions. We will also give you several practical tips to ensure you choose the best dental billing outsourcing company for your dental practice needs.

What problem does dental billing outsourcing solve?

As a dental practice owner, you are acutely aware of how revenue directly affects the day-to-day operations of your business. Research shows that the majority of dentists across the country have multiple leaks in their revenue cycle pipeline, but aren’t sure how to fix them. Plugging these holes would result in more revenue — up to 9% based on the national average — which could be used towards new technology, staff bonuses, office renovations, adding a location, and the list goes on. Take a look at our visual of the revenue cycle pipeline to see all of the areas where there could be leaks in your revenue cycle, resulting in uncollected revenue and patient dissatisfaction. The most common leak in a dental practice’s revenue cycle pipeline is missed dental billing processes, which include everything from keeping your patients on your schedule to collecting any additional balances from patients.

What should you expect from a dental billing outsourcing company?

Outsourcing your dental billing processes has many advantages, the biggest one being much-needed support for your in-house team. With the average hold time for insurance companies being around 45 minutes, outsourcing your dental billing processes to specialists means freeing up hours and hours of time for your team. Time that can be used to enhance patient care in a myriad of ways. 

Because a dental billing outsourcing company is an added layer of support for the entire dental practice team, it is important for the company that you choose to streamline your dental billing processes and to possess the following:

1. Clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and optimized processes for tracking and delivering results
2. Expert knowledge of your specialty and practice management software
3. Transparent reporting and timely communication with a real person

Dentistry is your specialty, and running a successful dental practice means surrounding yourself with knowledgeable team members that can do the tasks that aren’t necessarily your specialty — and you also don’t have time to do. Outsourcing your dental billing processes means adding remote dental billing specialists, which may be a new experience for you and your team. We strongly recommend taking the time to find the dental billing outsourcing company that meets your expectations for performance, culture, communication, and more.

Understanding the “why” behind a dental billing outsourcing company

Dental billing outsourcing companies provide solutions to major revenue roadblocks for many dentists. The origin story of a dental billing outsourcing company can tell you a lot about where and how the founder encountered the problem and developed the solution. Understanding the “why” behind Zentist and eAssist Dental Solutions will give you a better idea of the vision for each company.

Zentist: 

Zentist was founded relatively recently, in 2016, as a means to offer financial transparency in the dental billing space. Its artificial intelligence (AI) based algorithms attempt to find errors in initial claim submissions, while also following up in case of any further issues. Zentist describes itself as “The only dental billing insurance platform that leverages machine learning algorithms and robotic process automation to optimize the insurance revenue cycle management (RCM) process for emerging dental service organizations (DSOs) and dental practices.”

As of the date of this article, Zentist does not have a Google Business Account with any client reviews.

eAssist Dental Solutions:

11 years ago Dr. James Anderson was hard at work seeing patients, trying to grow a successful dental practice, attempting to hire the right staff and keep them, and looking for the answer that made this all easier so he could be home with his family for dinner every night. Sound familiar? Luckily, he crossed paths with Sandy Odle, and she did wonders for his several practices, but they knew there had to be something out there that streamlined the process. How do you get what you are rightfully owed 100% of the time? This planted the seed that grew eAssist Dental Solutions.

Eventually adding a handful of dental billing experts and clients at a time, Dr. Anderson and Sandy saw their dream of giving peace of mind to other dentists and office staff coming to light. As they thought, other dentists were having the same problems as them:

• staff turnover causing constant training on office processes
• practice revenue stalling with staff vacations and time off
• staff spread too thin trying to provide amazing care while sitting on endless phone calls with insurance getting claims paid
• the dentist, most of the time, helping in every area of the practice and not having sole focus on patients and procedures 

Though every office goes through these pain points as they are growing, this is not how it has to be. There is a solution, eAssist Dental Solutions.

Today the eAssist platform continues to provide the nation’s leading dental billing service alongside other time-saving, profit-making services to assist your dental office. We can now offer almost complete front office support to your general and/or specialty dental office. Though the growth has allowed Dr. Anderson, Sandy, and eAssist nation to support over 5,000 practices, the culture and brand promises remain the main focus for the entire platform.

 As of the date of this article, eAssist Dental Solutions has 172 Google reviews averaging a 5.0-star rating.

Should the size of a dental billing outsourcing company matter?

The short answer: yes. The size of a dental billing company can determine if the company has the capacity to serve your office in a few different ways: 1) dental billing specialists available that know your specialty and software and 2) services available to serve your dental practice needs. eAssist Dental Solutions maintains a large platform of knowledgeable dental billing specialists, in the United States, who offer their expertise to dentists across the country. 

eAssist Dental Solutions currently offers the following services through its proprietary dental billing platform:

• Dental billing — which includes a complimentary subscription to Practice Booster
• Patient billing calls & statements*
• EFT reconciliation
• Insurance verification
• Dental provider credentialing 
• Patient recare scheduling
• Dental practice consulting, with a large network of Consultants to choose from
• Dental accounting and bookkeeping

*Indicates an add-on service to the core dental billing service.

The eAssist platform supports a full suite of seven front office services with the intention of streamlining tedious tasks in the background, allowing the dental practice team to focus on what truly matters: the patients. Zentist’s insurance billing service is their main service offering, utilizing robotic automation and machine learning algorithms. 

Zentist currently offers the following services:

• Insurance billing
• Revenue Cycle Management Bootcamp (online educational webinars)

While there are many differences, the biggest difference between eAssist and Zentist’s offerings is how the services are performed. eAssist’s network of dental billing specialists utilize its platform users to create, send, and appeal insurance claims. Zentist’s AI takes up the initial task of creating and sending insurance claims, with the human component only coming into play to correct any missing information or appeal a denied claim.

Reviewing award-winning dental billing outsourcing companies

eAssist Dental Solutions is the most award-winning dental billing company in the U.S.A, being placed on the Inc 5000 list for six consecutive years, earning a HIPAA Seal of Compliance, a Great Place to Work Certification™ two years in a row, and many, many more. As well as this, eAssist is endorsed and recognized by the California Dental Association (CDA), one of the largest dental associations in the country. 

As of the date of this article, Zentist’s About Us section of their website is disabled.

What are the advantages and features of a dental billing outsourcing company?

The features of many of the dental billing outsourcing companies may look very similar, and it can be hard to make a decision on which one will best serve your practice. Both Zentist and eAssist Dental Solutions offer dental insurance billing services, that are defined by the following features listed on their websites (as of the date of this article): 

Zentist

• Claim data validation
• Supporting documentation attachments
• Coordination of benefits
• Pre-authorization submission
• Claim status tracking
• Investigation of unpaid claims
• Tasking for claim issue resolution
• Appeals for denials
• Peer review requests
• Posting checks, EFTs, and VCCs
• Posting adjustments
• Closing denials
• Daily Deposit Reports
• Bi-weekly & monthly financial reports

eAssist Dental Solutions

• All insurance payments and insurance contract adjustments posted within 24 business hours
• All primary & secondary claims are sent electronically, daily
• Insurance aging report analyzed each month and diligently worked
• All denied claims are investigated and appealed, if appealable
• Electronic attachments sent for all claims when available
• Notes are gathered by your eAssist dental billing specialists and recorded in your Accounts Receivable work log
• Verify procedures that are not sent to insurance, when applicable
• Missing information is gathered by our dental billing platform specialists
• Daily, weekly, & monthly accountability reports (examples of these reports can be sent to you upon request)

Once you know which features of a dental billing outsourcing company meet all of your needs, additional questions come to mind. 

When it comes to performance, how do you hold dental billing outsourcing company team members accountable for results? 

How will you measure progress without spending valuable hours combing through reports? 

Look for the dental billing outsourcing company that has clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and optimized processes for tracking and delivering results. 

These KPIs are clearly listed as eAssist’s Brand Promises to valued dental billing service clients:

• Collect 100% of what’s rightfully owed
• Submit clean claims for payment within 1 business day
• Post all payments to patient ledgers within 1 business day
• Follow up at least every 10 business days on all claims that hit 30+ days in aging
• Work to get the insurance over 90 to zero (and keep it there)

eAssist’s Brand Promises were created to give you the transparency that you need from a dental billing outsourcing company, and the confidence that you will receive the peace of mind that you deserve.

What does dental billing outsourcing cost?

All outsourcing companies have a duty to provide services for a reasonable price, and, as with most things you tend to get what you pay for. No service should seem too cheap or too-good-to-be-true, whether you have a contract or not. It is essential that the company you choose have an understandable and agreeable pricing structure that makes sense for the type of services your practice requires.  

eAssist’s pricing structure for their core dental billing service is as follows:

Zentist does not offer pricing on their website but they do state that pricing varies based on whether their client wants a subscription-based or volume-based fee assessment, which can vary depending on the size of the practice. Both eAssist and Zentist can accommodate individual practices or DSO affiliates of any size.

eAssist is unique in that it does not require commitment contracts. If you decide that it’s not right for you, you can cancel without penalty. As well as this, any concerns can be alleviated through direct communication with Team Leaders who work with you to problem solve any revenue cycle pipeline leaks that are brought to light and get your practice back on track.

How to choose a dental billing outsourcing company

Another huge factor in determining which dental billing outsourcing company is right for you is evaluating the dental billing outsourcing company culture. 

eAssist Dental Solutions’ culture is present in every aspect of our company, from our Executives all the way up to our Success Consultants. eAssist Nation is built with the best, most experienced, and caring people, with only 35% of applicants who apply being invited on to the platform. We recognize our dental billing specialists with several internal monthly & yearly awards — from being a go-getter to making sure the internal processes are being upheld. In December 2021, eAssist outperformed the national average ranking by 33 percentage points and earned the 2021 Great Place to Work Certification™.

eAssist Dental Solutions’ core purpose is Delivering Peace of Mind. eAssist also has seven important core values that shape our world-class culture:

• We are servant leaders
• Get the message to Garcia
• Seek first to understand, then be understood
• Embrace change and continuous improvement
• We care for each other
• Do the right thing
• Proactive positivity

eAssist culture is not taught but felt company-wide. Members of our eAssist platform embody it, and our clients choose us because of it.

As of the date of this article, Zentist’s About Us section of their website is disabled.

eAssist Dental Solutions is the nation’s #1 dental billing platform for outsourcing

As of the date of this article, eAssist has collected more insurance dollars for dentists than any other dental billing company in the U.S.A. Schedule a consultation today and discover the peace of mind that comes from partnering with the nation’s leader in dental billing.  

Information in this article was taken from publicly available sources such as company websites, Google listings, social media, etc., has not otherwise been verified with respect to Zentist, and may become outdated in some respects after the date this article is published.