7 reasons why medical billing for dental practice is crucial

7 reasons why medical billing for dental practice is crucial

Your practice can employ both dental billing and medical billing processes, according to the treatment. Essential dental work will ultimately be paid to dental insurance companies, whereas more extensive operations like biopsies, Botox injections, dental implants, and bone transplants can be billed through medical insurance. A well-organized medical billing procedure is very beneficial to dental clinics. It aids in getting the highest possible reimbursements from the payers. Many dentists are unaware that medical coverage plans frequently reimburse surgical operations done in the mouth, such as biopsies, pathology excisions, and repairing traumatic injuries. But the question arises why is medical billing significant for your dental organization? There are several benefits to adopting medical billing for dental procedures in your dental office. This article will explore 7 reasons why medical billing for a dental practice is crucial.

Dentists are required to offer treatment to patients. The preferred therapy is continuous positive airway pressure, with a 60–70% compliance rate (Dr Amy S Jordan, David G McSharry, Prof Atul Malhotra, 2013).3 For non-compliant CPAP patients, oral devices are the second-line treatment. According to a report, oral appliance therapy—the most popular alternative to CPAP—is preferred by 81% of patients (Jennifer Q. Le, Jeff L. Rodgers, Kevin Postol, 2018). The therapeutic appliances for sleep apnea by a dentist are not covered by dental insurance. They are considered in medical billing and covered by medical insurance. It is challenging for a dentist to perform medical billing for sleep apnea treatment. For this, we have elaborated simple tips for sleep apnea medical billing for dentists.

7 reasons why medical billing for a dental practice is crucial

The process of creating medical claims to file to insurance companies to get reimbursement for treatment offered by medical providers is known as medical billing. Dentists must submit a dental treatment claim to a patient’s medical insurance. Billing dental services to medical insurance can assist patients facing complicated conditions to receive the adequate treatment they require cost-effectively while enhancing the practice’s bottom line.

Diversify your scope practice

By including medical billing for dental operations, you expand the scope of your business and draw in new clients. Your clinic will benefit if you offer people an alternate method of paying for their medical care. It will not take long for a natural referral system to start growing among your present patients, bringing in new ones and making it challenging for rival dental offices to compete.

Enhance your revenue

For a practice to survive and develop, cash flow is essential (Ray Manley CMPE, Bhagwan Satiani, 2009). Medical billing for dental operations can be an excellent introduction if you aim for a successful dental office with extraordinary profits. Dentists might increase their revenues by submitting claims to medical insurance for dental work. It is well accepted that many individuals avoid the dentist due to the expense, even those with insurance. Compared to other types of healthcare services, dental care prices are more expensive in the US (Shahen Yashpal, Ananditha Raghunath, and Lorel E Burns, 2022). The majority of consumers and also some practitioners are unaware that they can reduce costs by using medical insurance for specific dental operations. Dentists may boost their revenue by utilizing the existing medical insurance that many of your customers have.

Provide your patients with an alternative

Generally, dental insurance pays for routine operations like cleanings and fillings. Dental insurance plans give savings for more complex procedures, cover standard procedures, and have low annual cost caps (Stephen Foreman et al., 2011). Patients are responsible for the total cost of procedures that fall outside that range, such as crowns and root canals. In contrast to dental insurance, medical insurance typically has no yearly maximum and frequently offers more coverage for expensive operations. By providing a service that few dental practices perform, medical billing in your dental practice not only lets you keep innovative but also allows your patients to save thousands of dollars.

Improve dental health in patients

Because they are receiving the necessary services, people whose dental operations may be paid for in numerous ways have better overall dental health. Moreover, medically billable procedures include preventive care, due to which patients can visit the dentist for their routine cleaning leading to the identification and removal of diseases on time. Your PPO plan typically pays 100% of these costs. But unfortunately, in a survey, it was revealed that 45% of people only went to the dentist after experiencing pain (Pravinya Sam, Suresh Venugopalan, M. Dhanraj, Ashish R. Jain, 2018).

When patients conduct visits regularly, you will realize that problems are identified sooner and can be fixed for less money. Higher case acceptance Patients with both medical and dental insurance can transfer medically necessary surgeries to their medical plan, saving their dental plan’s annual allotment for dental procedures. These circumstances will lead to higher case acceptance and, thus, more significant practice income. When you help your patients overcome their concerns about the cost of medical billing, it will create a positive impact, and patients are more likely to accept your suggested proposal. A higher case acceptance rate means more patients and more revenue for your practice.

Preserve annual dental insurance benefits

The dentist may submit a claim to the patient’s medical insurance when treating a person with interconnected medical and dental problems. Dental services considered medically necessary are cost-effective (Medically Necessary Dental Services, 2000). Hence, patients’ financial strain will be lessened, and their yearly dental insurance benefits will remain available.

Keep your practice healthy

Patients will be highly appreciative and will become fantastic marketing assets for your clinic if they know that you are prepared to assist them in obtaining medical benefits.

Your dental practice will function more effectively due to our medical billing services in numerous ways, you should spend your maximum time in your patient’s care to make your practice fully comply with the regulatory regulations, while our practice revenue experts will manage your financial responsibilities in a modernized way.

What dental procedures are considered to be billable in medical insurance?

Several dental procedures can be considered medically billable to medical insurance. Some of these are enlisted below:

TMJ services (Based on the severity of TMD and the healthcare provider, persons are eligible for medical and dental care coverage (TMJ Treatment Cost, 2018).

  • Panoramic x-rays
  • Bone graft
  • Alveoloplasty
  • Head and neck evaluation for orofacial medical problems
  • Dental implants
  • Extraction of wisdom teeth under certain conditions (To extract teeth to prepare the jaw for cancer radiation treatment, HCFA has expressly allowed coverage exclusions (Medically Necessary Dental Services, 2000)
  • Emergency trauma procedures
  • Certain periodontal surgery procedures
  • CT scan
  • Dental repair of teeth due to injury
  • Dental disease secondary to cancer treatment
  • Frenectomy for infants and children, Ankyloglossia  (Medical policy for Frenectomy or Frenotomy for Ankyloglossia (Tongue-Tie), 2017)
  • Sleep apnea appliances (after following specific requirements)
  • Restorative care
  • Infection is not treatable by entry through the tooth
  • Consultation for an excisional biopsy of oral lesions (Dr. Olya Zahrebelny, 2017)
  • Prosthetics (Dr. Olya Zahrebelny, 2017)

Outsource billing with MedsDental billing company

MedsDental Dental Billing Company is an expert in medical billing for dental treatments to get you reimbursed from the patient’s insurer. The professionals perform every step of medical and dental billing accurately. Our specialized and certified coders know which codes will be applied for specific services using coding rules. Along with performing streamlined billing, we aim to enhance your practice’s revenue by up to 30%. By filing a proper claim to insurance companies and collecting payment quickly, MedsDental is providing many customers its beneficial medical, dental billing, and coding services. Now is your turn to gain the benefits of HIPAA-compliant services. Because we do not ask for any onboarding charges and implement HIPAA-compliant services using cutting-edge technology, we are the right approach for you. Establish a partnership with our company to gain confidential assistance without any threat of data breach because we do every service by keeping the factor of data protection into consideration.

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