BENEFITS


Reducing Administrative Costs with Automated Insurance Verification


by ROBERT MCDERMOTT


many dental practices are looking at ways to increase efficiency. Often, workflow friction costs dentists and dental organizations money, as office staff are tied up with administrative tasks that, simply put, eat into their ability to perform other tasks—the kind of tasks that generate revenue. Insurance verification, for example, is one task that, while vital, can be remarkably time consuming. But what if there were an easy way to get that time back—to free up staff, improve patient care and drive revenue? Au- tomated insurance verification does just that.


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INSURANCE VERIFICATION CHALLENGES


For many dental practices and organizations, much of the insurance verification process is still manual. As a result, it’s incredibly time consuming and can be prone to human error. Many patients fill out insurance forms prior to their first visit, and when those processes aren’t digital, handwriting and legibility issues can result in incorrect information. Another insurance verification challenge is that insurance policies change all the time. And perhaps the biggest challenge is that staff spend hours communicating back and forth with insurance companies or tracking down verification errors—wasted time that could be spent on patient care.


INSURANCE VERIFICATION CONTRIBUTES TO ADMIN COSTS


If we look at the insurance verification process more closely, we can start to see the ways that traditional insurance verification


22 focus | SEP/OCT 2022 | ISSUE 5


hile it may be cliche, the adage “time is money” is one of the reasons why so


your team spends on the process. When looking for an automated insurance verification solution, use these five core functions to make sure your ROI is realized:


methods consume valuable resources. First, the best outcome for your practice and your patient is to complete verification prior to the patient’s appointment. To do that, pa- tient’s need to fill out forms in advance. The digital information then needs to be entered into the patient’s records. Next, your team must communicate with the insurance com- pany. The administrative team must work to connect with the insurance provider to verify coverage for the anticipated procedure or treatment. Should additional treatments or procedures be needed, this may require addi- tional calls from your administrative staff to the insurance provider. Assuming all things go well, 20-30 hours a week can be spent on insurance verification—nearly a full-time job. Imagine what your team could do, when it comes to patient care and practice manage- ment, with an extra 20-30 hours a week!


AUTOMATED INSURANCE VERIFICATION REDUCES ADMIN COSTS


One of the easiest ways you can get those hours back, free up your administrative team, reduce errors and reduce costs is by investing in automated insurance verification software. Automated insurance verification software reduces the potential for errors and, with the right software solution, the amount of time


• Provides benefits information for every patient on your schedule so staff no longer verifies one patient at a time. • Connects to thousands of insur- ance providers ensuring policy and benefits information are up to date.


• Identifies reporting errors so you can correct them and automatically reruns the report.


• Shows remaining coverage amounts for patients, ensuring they get the treat- ments they need and deserve.


• Generates lists of unscheduled treat- ments, allowing you to schedule with patients before they leave the office.


Nearly every dental practice and dental service organization out there is looking for ways to better utilize human resources, re- duce costs, streamline services and improve efficiency. Much like every other industry, the digital transformation and automation of time consuming and repetitive tasks prom- ises to change the way you run your dental practice or DSO.


Robert McDermott is President and CEO, iCoreConnect. MDA Perks Program Partner iCoreConnect’s iCoreVerify software is like gaining an extra team member without the overhead. iCoreVerify completes automated insurance verifications—up to up to seven days in advance—for every patient on the schedule. Book a demo at iCoreConnect. com/MO5 to see how it can reduce your administrative costs and provide additional efficiency benefits or call 888- 810-7706. MDA members receive a discount on iCoreVerify by iCoreConnect.


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