As a dentist, professionalism and precision are critical to the success of your dental practice. Your patients are coming to you not just for help with their oral health but also for a smooth and seamless experience—and that includes the billing process. Even the best dental practices can fall victim to patient billing mistakes, and a pattern of billing problems can damage your bottom line and the patient experience.
Death By a Thousand Cuts
Many practices with patient billing mistakes experience “death by a thousand cuts,” or many small problems that add up to major problems on the balance sheet. Patient billing mistakes, ranging from simple inaccuracies to more complex errors, can wreak havoc on your dental practice’s financial health and reputation and jeopardize your ability to work with some insurance providers. Additionally, delayed billing can cause cash flow problems. If your staff fails to promptly send out invoices or insurance claims, it can lead to delayed payments that make it tough to budget and keep all of your bills paid.
A Ripple Effect That Compromises Patient Trust
Patient billing mistakes don’t just affect your bottom line; they also impact patient trust. When patients receive inaccurate bills, they may question your professionalism and accuracy. This can damage your reputation and make patients hesitant to recommend your services to others. Trust is difficult to regain, and many patients will never tell you that their trust has been compromised. Instead, they will just stop coming back.
Breaking the Law
Even if your patient billing mistakes are truly mistakes and not intentional, they could lead to legal consequences. If you are thought to be engaging in fraudulent billing activities, it can lead to severed relationships with insurance providers, fines, and even the revocation of your license. Some of the more serious patient billing mistakes include upcoding, which is billing for more costly services than what you actually provided. Insurers and other regulatory bodies keep a close eye on upcoding, in addition to these other common dental billing mistakes:
- Unbundling, or billing a procedure based on its components instead of the complete procedure
- Billing for services that were not rendered
- Using additional codes
- Changing the dates of service on a claim
- Submitting a claim using information from another member
Make Billing and Payment Easy with APEX Reimbursement Specialists
Whether you’re looking for a way to make the insurance verification process easier or hoping to improve your overall patient communication plan, APEX Reimbursement Specialists is here to help. Contact our team today by calling (410) 710-6005. We look forward to working with you to make your practice a more profitable place.