Improve Profitability through Clean Claims

With almost 11 ADA recognized dental specialties and having a burgeoning market share, the specialty dental business is here to make significant gains in the coming years as we take a cursory glance on the latest trends of the dental industry.

Listen to Ryan Arnold, Principal, Wisdom Teeth Guys as he explains the possibilities that lie ahead for Dental Specialty business and how he has paid attention on patient care,technology adoption and brand management to further sustainable practice growth for his specialty.

Dentistry's Inner Circle bg 37

Creating Sustainable Specialty Dental Businesses

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Dental Appointment Reminders: Reducing No-Shows and Driving Practice Growth

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Reducing patient no-shows and cancellations begins by accepting that 

it’s impossible to guarantee that your patients will always keep their appointments

. Once you accept that this falls outside your control, you can pool your efforts on the aspects that are within your control, and which help reduce no-shows and cancellations.

missed appointments cause a ripple effect

 that impacts your schedules, revenues, and the effectiveness of treatments. It strikes a serious blow to your bottom line. But with that said, there are 

effective safeguards you can put in place

 to address this issue. Before we explore these safeguards, let’s examine the key reasons behind no-shows and cancellations. 

Typically, patients miss their appointments when they:

Don’t understand the importance of keeping their appointments

Misunderstand when their appointment is scheduled

Self diagnose and decide to skip their appointments

Worry about bad news and try to avoid the situation

Have a shallow relationship with the provider

There is a wide range of reasons for patients to miss their appointments, but most can be mitigated with improved patient-provider communication and by implementing the following safeguards.

It became widely accepted as a care delivery method after the 2020 pandemic, but thanks to the convenience offered to patients, 

 is here to stay. Outside the initial check-up and actual treatment, consultations and routine post-op visits can be performed remotely. The virtual interactions offer patients the opportunity to 

receive treatment in the comfort of their living room

 or office. The added benefit of leveraging teledentistry is it adds one less reason for patients to rethink or opt out of their dental appointments. 

Another approach that has gained traction is using 

 to collect vital patient information. E-forms are a key feature of modern practice management software (PMS). This feature is now used widely to stay in line with the COVID-19 safety protocols. With this new norm, practices have completely replaced the clipboard and embraced digitization. Another fact that supports this approach is that 

98% of patients who take time to fill out online forms commit to their appointments

COVID-19 has added fuel to the fire of dental anxiety among patients. The risk of exposure is a valid fear. The best way for you to 

 is with communication and education. Ensure you convey the safety protocols and measures followed at your practice to reduce the risks from COVID-19. Launching targeted email campaigns, and updating relevant information on your practice website and 

convey your commitment to patient care and safety

 and encourage patients to follow through with their appointments.

When you provide your patients with the option to make payments in advance, it reduces the instances of no-shows and benefits your collections and accounts receivable. Get paid upfront instead of having to wait for 2-3 months. Paying cash in advance leads to 

. You can provide this option during patient checkout, especially when both you and your patient agree with the importance of scheduling the next appointment.

Offering upfront payment at this stage is apt, as the patient is likelier to take action and commit to their oral health. Another way to make it easy for them to pay is by providing an 

. Make sure that you inform your patient about your prepaid payment options. Market it through your campaigns, newsletters, and phone scripts.

Reminders are an effective way to reduce patient no-shows. Plan your 

and decide on a frequency that works best for your target clientele. Start off with a postcard, followed by email and text reminders. Add a phone reminder a few days before the scheduled appointment. Ensure that you cut down on reminders once you receive confirmation from your patients. Practice management software aids you to launch, coordinate and track your recall campaigns effectively.

reward patients who keep their appointments

. The reward initiatives can include discounts or gift cards. The benefits of such an approach are twofold. You encourage your patients to follow through on your appointments and 

convey how much you value their participation

. Moreover, curating such experiences helps you retain your customers.

Sometimes, patients simply forget an appointment. Send 

 that can include a “We missed you at the practice” message. Follow this up with a phone call to encourage them to reschedule immediately.

It is crucial that your patients know the impact of your treatments on their oral health. If your patients are not invested in the outcomes of your treatment plan, it is unlikely that they will uphold their commitments. 

 before every appointment. Remind them of the benefits of the procedure and the progress they’ve made so far. 

 of the scheduled appointment and ensure that they are fully onboard. A phone reminder before the appointment will help refresh what they already know about the 

Patients skip appointments because they owe your practice money or are worried the procedure will be too expensive. When this happens, it’s time to 

. It’s important that payments never come as a surprise to the patient. This causes anxiety in the patient, especially when they expect hidden expenses from each visit. When 

 and benefits are discussed upfront and agreed upon, patient no-shows due to financial concerns can be avoided. 

 allows you to effectively educate and communicate with your patients. Automating tasks like appointment reminders or confirmation/cancellation emails, filling last-minute openings, and sending online forms and other notifications to engage patients, practices can drastically cut revenue loss and staff workload while reducing patient no-shows and cancellations.

Eliminating No-Shows and Cancellations at Dental Office

For a dental practice, revenue cycle management is the equivalent of the body’s circulatory system and the heart of a practice’s financial success. The revenue cycle incorporates data capture, claims and denials management, and the collection of payments from both patient and insurance receivables. A healthy system works in concert with industry best practices and technical solutions to optimize efficiencies, identify “leaks” and improve operational workflows. As every practice is unique, it is difficult to prescribe a “one size fits all” approach. However, there are key performance indicators, which can and should be followed to measure practice performance. There are several potential KPIs which provide valuable insight into the collection’s performance and financial health of practice including, but not limited to: Collections percentage, Production growth, Aging accounts receivable, Days sales outstanding, Adjustments percentage, and Credit balances. 

Since 2011, the dental industry has experienced a steady and upward trend in aging receivables, with the majority of balances aged greater than 90 days. The good news is that CareStack offers a solution that combines modern technology, effective processes, and industry expertise to kick start the heart and breathe life back into the revenue cycle.

Revenue Cycle Playbook for Dental Professional

Revenue Cycle Playbook for Dental Professionals

From small, solo practices to large, multi-location clinics, these case studies demonstrate the versatility and value of CareStack in improving the patient experience and driving practice . 

 has been used by many dentists across the world to spread out the 

, reducing the oral health disparities between urban and rural communities.

Fast-forwarding to 2020, teledentistry has made the entire dental care delivery model more 

, along with lowering the overall cost of dentistry. Therefore, this ‘new normal’ brings a different facet to the industry through its multiple 

 that could become key driving factors for dental practices in the coming times.

 Teledentistry is the use of electronic information, imaging and communication technologies, including interactive audio, video, data communications as well as store and forward technologies, to provide and support dental care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, transfer of dental information and education. 

Teledentistry is, therefore, the combination of telecommunications and dentistry to initiate the 

 between patients and dentists for a dental consultation and treatment planning remotely.

Leveraging teledentistry in the right way can 

solve the rising concerns of patients and practices

With the outbreak of COVID-19, dentistry has realized the importance of 

addressing the disparities within the dental care system

, resolving the oral health gaps, and rising patient concerns.

. With patients getting increasingly concerned about being infected from unnecessary exposure and traveling to dental practices, consulting with a dentist from the comfort of their home has become desirable.

Teledentistry is a remarkable solution to this concern, 

 devoted to travel and the unnecessary exposure and hassle of sharing common waiting areas to meet dental needs.

Through this, dental practices can not only maintain their appointment volume but also decentralize their access to a broad target market. Because in the end, it’s not merely the number of new patients that matters, it’s the 

In this context, providing the desired patient experience and 

 immediately will keep them turning in more for their appointments.

In addition to the above benefits, the rise of 

 facilities at urgent care centers and hospitals ensures that patients receive 

, instead of being treated by an emergency room dentist.

How Dentists Leverage Teledentistry

, teledentistry has unlocked a broader, innovative landscape for patients and dental practices alike. With teledentistry, dentists are now able to:

Teledentistry helps dentists to keep their practice afloat in times of the pandemic by providing 

 and telehealth consultation can keep your patients engaged with your practice without compromising their safety. Convenient access to care boosts patient compliance with the treatment offered by your practice. Thus, teledentistry helps to 

 by eliminating the need for patients to take extra time off from their daily hustles to see their provider, only to sit in a crowded waiting room until their name is called.

evaluating each patient’s needs before their appointment

, utilizing the best of teledentistry, dentists can check in with patients who don’t need an in-person visit. Checkups and treatment follow-ups are thus easier for dentists, as they can remotely communicate with the patients. The patients can also send their dentist information on how they are progressing after the operation or treatment taken. Thereby 

dentists can then focus on providing treatment

 to other patients who require emergency care rather than on check-ups.

Before teledentistry, dentists could only target a specific area that lies close to their geography. Because of teledentistry, dentists can 

 to treat more patients, no matter where they are located. Through video conferencing, dentists can provide 

 to patients who find it challenging to commute or for those who may not have dental clinics nearby.

If a dentist has doubts or concerns regarding any treatment a patient requires, they can consult with a specialist from their location in real-time via teledentistry. A specialist can shed light on the concerns raised and provide a second opinion to the dentist remotely. Teledentistry thus makes it easy for dentists to 

consult virtually with other professionals

 to provide the best dental care to their patients.

Teledentistry has, in many ways, made dental services more accessible, safer, and convenient for patients and has also rescued dental offices from possible revenue drops in the age of the pandemic.

Setting Up Your Practice for Teledentistry

 offers a broad spectrum of features that could make the patient journey 

 by delivering care to remote patients via video conferencing or phone connectivity. Here are a few that would help you set up your practice for safe patient navigation and increased payment collection.

Setting Up Your Practice

With patients concerned more about their safety today, 44% prefer online scheduling and paperless onboarding to the traditional models. Through an intelligent software solution, you can set your office hours and ensure that 

patients schedule their appointments online

. Some software also provides live HIPAA-compliant webchat to assist patients with booking appointments online. With online patient registration, you can optimize your time, and increase your patient’s convenience.

Don’t you think your patients appreciate the convenience of arriving right at the time of their appointment and not ahead? Yes, patients no longer expect to come and wait for an appointment in advance, just to fill out forms. An intuitive software will help you 

collect pre-appointment information, consent, and medical history

 securely through digital forms. Having completed their forms prior to the appointment time, your patients can remain safely in their vehicles until their scheduled appointment is ready. This ensures a reduction in the time spent by your patients in the waiting room.

If you have been wondering about your patients missing their appointments in fear of getting infected from dental office visits, you can now put your worries at bay! With teleconsultation, you can keep your patients and staff 100% safe through virtual screenings. Teleconsultation enables you to 

meet patients face-to-face and engage with them through video conferencing

. This feature also allows you to document clinical information using odontograms and smart note templates on the go. Going virtual, thereby, is a perfect way to retain appointment volume in the years to come.

If your dental practice has struggled to collect outstanding patient balances over these critical times, this one is the right feature for you. With an automated AR management solution, your practice can reduce the overhead costs that are going unnecessarily to collection agencies. 

80% of patients always read and respond to a text message

; therefore, sending a friendly, personalized text message with a link to view and pay the invoice ensures better payment flexibility for patients and an increase in your payment collection rate.

The current struggles that you are facing to keep the practice running might be holding you back from thinking of a profitable software that can address all your changing practice needs. But choosing the right 

 from the dozens available is vital to ensure safe and convenient patient journey and constant practice growth. Therefore it is advised to go for a software platform that’s comprehensive enough to meet all your growing needs on a long-term basis.

Teledentistry has rewritten the ways practices have defined patient experience for the past few years. With teledentistry, dental practices can:

1. Improve the dental hygiene of patients

Patients are highly drawn to the convenience of dental care that comes to them, and the visits to dental offices began to drop with the onset of the pandemic and have remained on a steady decline. Leveraging telehealth communication to connect dentists with patients remotely has become an important tool for improving the oral health of patients conveniently.

Recent studies on the use of telehealth services have shown that 

 of patients feel comfortable and safe communicating with their dentists via 

 as compared to consulting with them in person, and 76% patients prioritize their ease of access to dental care over the need to have face-to-face interactions with their dentists.

3. Improve access to dental care for patients

 of Americans do not have easy access to dentists and other medical services. Teledentistry fills this gap in accessing medical care by eliminating the need to travel long ways to meet dentists. With teledentistry, dentists can supplement areas where medical services are difficult to access, thereby decentralizing the patients’ access to dental care. It also allows dentists to expand their potential market to reach patients beyond their offices. Teledentistry has the capacity to increase dental practices’ services to a multitude of new patients.

4. Triaging appointment times for patients who need them

With teledentistry, dentists can triage patients according to their dental care needs, dedicating more time to patients who need an in-office visit to patients who are just in need of a virtual consultation. Teledentistry features thus 

 patients take to see dentists, helping them attend to more patients in less time.

5. Provide the same level of care to patients as in-office visits.

The quality of dental care provided through teledentistry is at par with the care extended through in-office visits making it the right option to switch to if you are looking for 

a solution to meet the changing needs of patients

 as well as one that has the same success rates of patients whether they have used teledentistry or not.

Like other things in dentistry, every state does teledentistry according to its laws and regulations. When dentists and hygienists make recommendations on whether to incorporate telemedicine into their practices, they must be responsible for dealing with the laws and regulations for the states in which they work. The state dental board is the best source of knowledge in the field on the legal and ethical aspects of using teledentistry.

 The dentist is responsible for the safety and quality of services provided to patients using teledentistry technologies and methods, and retains the authority to ensure these. Services offered by teledentistry should be compatible with in-person services, and the provision of services using such modalities must comply with the laws on the privacy and protection of dental/medical information of a patient.

 In the state where the patient receives care and where the dentist is licensed, the level of supervision of allied dental personnel will adhere to the relevant dental practice act. The dentist should have knowledge of the skills and credentials of the allied staff used and should be able to contact all the allied dental staff immediately while providing service and the patient receiving services. All services delivered by allied dental personnel should be consistent with the 

 In compliance with the laws of the state in which the patient provides care, dentists, and allied dental staff who offer services through teledentistry modalities must be certified or credentialed. Service delivery via teledentistry must comply with the State’s scope of laws, regulations, or rules. The American Dental Association is opposed to a single nationwide federalized dental licensing program for teledentistry purposes.

 Dental insurance plans and all other third-party payers, in both public and private systems, shall offer compensation for services using (synchronous or asynchronous) teledentistry technologies and approaches provided to a covered individual to the same degree that the services would be covered if they were administered via personal interactions. Coverage for services offered by teledentistry modalities will be at the same level as coverage provided for services provided by in-person interactions, and will not be limited or restricted depending on the equipment used or the location of either the patient or the provider as long as the health care provider is accredited in the state where the patient receives treatment.

 To facilitate the delivery of services via teledentistry modalities, dentists are encouraged to consider compliance with applicable data exchange standards. These include, but are not limited to, Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine ( DICOM) requirements when choosing and using imaging systems, X12 / HL7 for knowledge sharing, and ICD-9/10-CM / SNOMED / SNODENT for accuracy in documentation.

Bringing together innovation with cutting edge technology, CS Virtual Office™ from CareStack is an all-in-one practice management software that supports all the features and functionalities, including online scheduling, teledentistry consultation, and patient collection using 

. Integrating CS Virtual Office™ into your dental practice will ensure regular appointment volumes and revenue during these COVID times. Thus, CareStack’s comprehensive 

enterprise-grade practice management software

 will undoubtedly assist you in leveraging each of the telehealth features, helping your dental office navigate to the new normal with confidence.

A Complete Guide To Teledentistry

A Complete Guide To Teledentistry: The Future of Virtual Dental Care

As dental practices open up for treatment and procedures, prioritizing the cash flow recovery plan to reduce the financial impact is highly important. 

Cash flow management for dental practices

 had always been quite complex for the size of the organization.

 from both insurance and direct channels, 

 eligibility, maintaining the fee schedules, and various other measures to optimize revenue by reducing rejections and denials.

The biggest challenges faced by dental practices include ensuring effective reimbursements, optimizing upfront patient payments, and bringing overall efficiency in their 

But, at a time when you have to be focused on your patients’ safety and providing excellent dental care, you should not be sweating over 

 reviewing your practice’s RCM will be crucial.

Struggles with cash flow management and ways to control them

Cash flow management involved a lot of grunt work even before COVID-19. But with the current state of dental practices in the country, having a cost-efficient and customer-operated 

 looks more promising and flexible from both standpoints- patient and provider.

Through this, you could conveniently optimize the payment cycle, 

reduce administrative burden and increase collections

. Thus reducing the practice overhead expenses to get a hold on your revenue income is definitely going to be a great start for your recovery plan.

The six key areas that should lie at the core of your cash flow recovery plan are:

Six Key Areas to Improve Cashflow Recovery

where the major expenses in the collection are coming from

. You might be routing many patients to collection agencies, increasing the cost of collection considerably when a regular follow-up alone could have solved the issue. It might be the time to check and 

 that have taken most of your task management time and collection costs.

 is important. This helps to reduce lost production value and adds to your revenue. Focus on increasing net collections by 

 and sticking to a routine regular process through two-way communication.

 for specific procedures so that when a patient sits at the operatory and contemplates a treatment, the costs are at the dentist’s fingertips. This helps faster decision-making and reduces errors and hassles.

 and use it to estimate the patient’s share accurately. The data captured in the eligibility form can further be used to eliminate the inaccuracies before claims submission

accelerate collections and revisit past-due accounts

. Modern solutions provide advanced cash flow management features like automated tools that work to improve dental office billing and follow-up to enhance the speed of collections. Automated ERA postings can also help dentists get a grip on the situation faster.

With the safety of your patients at high risk, the reduced number of in-patient visits will be real and long-standing. 

 can be a solution to keep up the revenue stream to an extent.

You can also maintain the appointment volume through 

 conferencing; consulting your patients through high-quality video.

An all-in-one solution for your cash flow management

 has the right tool in place to manage the cash flow, but it is essential at this time of need. Let us see how you can organize all of the above challenges with a single affordable solution.

Implementing an all-in-one cloud-based practice management system with built-in 

 is perhaps an advanced way to bring in effective cash flow management to your office. This is almost a 

 with capabilities for centralization and cash flow management is essential to achieve the full potential of your practice inherent in scale.

How does a cloud-based practice management system help your practice flow?

 provides your practice with the right tools needed to make your communication with patients effortless while seamlessly integrating your cash flow management, to be 

, letting them focus more on the core duties of the time, like patient safety management.

 by rectifying the key areas stated above in a multitude of ways which include:

process debit and credit card transactions

 using an integrated electronic payment solution.

 Easily add payments and adjustments to all patients in a family during checkout.

 Set up financial agreements for services done over a period of time and use them to create 

 Apply finance charges to accounts that have overdue payments.

 Maintain multiple provider fee schedules across multiple insurance plans.

 for all locations and providers from a central site.

 Set up a common carrier, plan, and code lists to be used across single or multiple locations.

 Monitor responses from the carrier/clearinghouse and notify the users with action items.

 Post payments for services done for a patient at a claim level as well as at a code level.

 Integrate with participating collection agencies for seamless collections management.

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