For weeks, dental practices across the country were shut down for elective procedures in response to COVID-19. Now, states are reopening essential businesses and giving dentists the green light to proceed with certain procedures if they have met specific criteria.
Regardless of the status of your business operations, all practices share a need for increased revenue and effective revenue cycle management. Now more than ever, there are substantial benefits to implementing dental claims submission and attachment technology, including an immediate boost to your bottom line and smoother operations.
Generate Revenue from Home
Remote working in a dental practice can feel limiting in terms of what you can accomplish. Having cloud technology in place to submit claims means you can do it from anywhere. Plus, if you have a backlog of claims to be submitted, you can do all of it in a batch from home and start bringing in a revenue stream.
Clarity on Attachment Requirements
Technology allows you to understand any attachment requirements before submitting a claim, almost eliminating a missing attachment as a reason a claim is rejected.
Real-Time Tracking
Each submitted claim will have a status attributed to it, so you can have real-time access to where each claim stands. If the claim is showing as rejected, this can just mean a piece of information was incorrect and needs to be updated. This type of information at your fingertips allows claims to be processed faster.
No More Scanning and Uploading
Claims submission technology allows you to take a screenshot of the image instead of scanning and uploading, decreasing the time spent on each claim. This can be especially important when processing batch claims, as the maximum attachment size is 16 MB.
Backlog Claims Processing
Using paper and mail service to submit claims not only is less efficient than using technology, it also might be virtually impossible to manage from home. Plus, as practices gradually reopen, some back-office staff may continue to work remotely. Equipping them with technology can help them process claims that have been in the pipeline faster and more efficiently.
Cost Savings
The average dental practice spends up to $160 per month on processing claims and attachments, broken up into micro-transactions of $0.50 per claim through its practice management system. Claims submission and attachment technology are accessible for a considerably less expensive monthly fee and offer extensive customer support.
Receive Payment Faster
With electronic transmission and retrieval of requested records, you can receive documentation and images in minutes versus days when using manual methods, resulting in an increased revenue cycle. Many practices that are using technology to support their claim submissions and attachments get paid within two weeks or less.
Increased Efficiency
By moving away from manual, paper-based, or less automated digital processes, your staff can free up time to focus on other tasks such as researching industry trends and new service offerings, as well as new marketing opportunities. Of course, they also can use that time to devote themselves to providing better patient service.
Eliminate Paper, Reduce Error
Printing and chasing paper documentation is time-consuming and bad for the environment. It also opens you up to human error, lost or unreceived communications, additional paperwork, issues with faulty or lagging mail service, and more. Errors can mean claim denials and delayed payments, which can impact your accounts receivable (AR). The industry is transforming into one that rapidly accepts technology to enhance the profession and leave the paper behind.
Your Turn
Our industry is seeing increased adoption of technology, but many practices still use manual processes that leave them vulnerable to risk and inefficiencies. Today’s technology options cause minimal disruption to your daily operation, especially when considering all the benefits that technology offers your practice for claims submissions and attachments.
All dental practices want to increase their cash flow and reduce the time spent on back-office tasks, all while increasing the service level they provide to patients, especially as they remain closed for elective procedures or gradually start to reopen. Adopting technology solutions will pay for itself and more in dividends, and everyone in your revenue cycle management workflow will quickly experience the benefits.
Mr. Patrick is president of dental at Vyne.
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