Quick Bites for your Dental Office

If you would have told me five years ago that I would have been running my own remote dental billing company, I would have never believed you! But how did I get here? My story is unlike any other billing company out there and I think it is something as a dentist, you’ll be able to relate to.

I started working for my Father’s dental practice in 2009. I had no dental knowledge and worked my way up to the office manager of the office. If you think this was an easy task due to me being the dentist’s daughter, let me tell you it was not. My father will proudly acknowledge that out of all his employees, he was always the hardest on his own children, and he had a lot of us working for him. In 2015, I had my second daughter and decided it was time for me to stay at home. Over the next four years my dad went through many employees in the front office. We lost some great ones and not so great ones. However, it became a clear pattern that after each turn over I would have to re-enter the office and “fix” billing issues specifically. 

This all came to a head in 2018, when my father, Dr. Stanford, feared the worst, that he was being embezzled. Adjustments on patient’s accounts just did not add up. Fortunately when looking deeper into the issue, the employee did not return to work. Our billing transferred over to our newest employee and life seemed good again. It was not until late 2018, and when this new employee was gone from the office for a week, that we realized insurance payments were being cashed by the doctor but not posted into the patient’s account. It was an accounting nightmare! My dad made the decision right then and there to outsource his dental billing back to me from home. I was able to fix all the billing errors from the past, and gave him the peace of mind to finally trust his billing was being done correctly. 

That is how Bond Dental Consulting began. It started with a desire to give peace to my Father, that his billing was being done the right way, and it evolved to helping dental offices around the country with the same. There are so many wonderful companies to choose from to outsource your dental billing. Why would you choose ours? The reason I started my company is unlike any other. I know what it is like for the dentist to not trust their billing is being handled correctly. I also have the perspective of working at the front desk, knowing how difficult it is to properly do billing while being distracted every other minute. I know what it is like to have upset patients call when their billing was done wrong. Your patients are too valuable to lose from incorrect billing.

My top priority is your patient relationship and to increase your collection rate. I know how invaluable it is to have extreme attention to detail for each claim that comes in and that goes out of the office. I have seen first hand the stress for my Father when these details are not done correctly and the strain it causes on the practice. It bleeds over into all other areas of the dental office. That is my why. That is why the core values to our company is hard work, integrity, and getting the job done the right way, the first time. I pride myself on those three values and hope to help offices around the country in the year to come. See how we can give your office peace of mine, today. We would love to help you!

Always appeal denied claims, unless it is due to waiting period, maximum, frequency or things that cannot be overturned.

Ask for or locate the correct appeal’s address and who to make it attention to. This is not always their regular mailing address. 

Give them more information than they could ever want. (i.e. pre and post x-rays, clinical notes, detailed written narrative from the doctor with add. information, IO photos, perio chart if needed, use the CDT book guidelines for the code guidelines)

Circle/highlight and point out the evidence you have. i.e. fractures in the teeth, decay on your IO photos and x-rays. Make it obvious to the consultant!

Don’t stop after one appeal. Ask for a peer-to-peer review! Appeal up to four times. Each time a new consultant reviews the claim. Get your insurance commissioner involved, if need be.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease! Insurance companies are counting on you NOT appealing. Show them that your office will be one to appeal over and over and they will deny less claims. 

Elevate your front office: https://www.bonddentalconsulting.com/elevate-front-office

Today I am so excited that I am here with special guest, my sister and registered dental hygienist, Lauren Stanford. The question of the day is “What do I do when a perio patient asks, “Why do I need 4 cleanings in a year?” 

This is a great question that gets asked often and is so important to create value and understanding of periodontal disease for your patient. I believe it all starts at the appointment when they receive the diagnosis. At that appointment much of the time should be spent explaining to the patient what periodontal disease is and what to expect going forward. Let me give you an example of how I would handle a situation like this with my patients. Let’s pretend I have Sue in my chair you just got diagnosed with periodontal disease for the first time. This is what I would say to her:

“Sue, as you heard from your periodontal measurements you do have some areas of concern. In the upper left and lower right you have areas of 5mm which means you’ve lost bone and are unable to successfully clean out those pockets. What the bacteria has done is accumulate in those pockets and become destructive and has destroyed the bone that holds your teeth in place. This is called periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is a disease that can only be maintained, and cannot be cured. It is a disease that not only affects your teeth but also your overall health such as increasing your risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, to name a few. 

So going forward, this is what we are going to do. We will start with a procedure called scaling and root planing, which will remove the bacteria, tartar and toxins below the gumline in hopes that we will shrink these pocket depths to a level that you are able to clean at home. Going forward, it is crucial that I see you every 3 months. The reason behind this is that bacteria gets destructive and does damage and can destroy more bone in 90 days. The main objective with periodontal disease is not to lose more bone, so that is why is it critical for a patient to be seen every 90 days. Another difference going forward is you will no longer be a standard cleaning, that type of cleaning only cleans the surface above the gumline and your disease has spread below. Sue, now remember I will be here every step of the way to help you get healthy. What questions can I answer for you?”

Before we go, if you liked what you heard here, you are going to LOVE Lauren’s brand new minicourse for on Mastering Your IO Camera. Right now for a limited time it is 50% off. So you’ll want to go grab that today. You can find all the details at www.bonddentalconsulting.com/minicourse . Trust me, you will not want to miss it!

Get my FREE detailed insurance breakdown form: www.bonddentalconsulting.com/dental-freebies

Get my FREE detailed insurance breakdown form here: www.bonddentalconsulting.com/dental-freebies

Get my FREE detailed insurance breakdown form here: www.bonddentalconsulting.com/dental-freebies

Here are three easy tips to make the new patient phone call the BEST first impression.

The New Patient phone will be the most important first impression for your patient. This sets the stage for all their future appointments, if they'll schedule treatment, or follow through with sending their family and friends to your dental office. It's all about building relationships and trust. This is NOT a phone call to rush through! Drop everything you're doing and this is your chance to deeply engage with your new patient. 

When that new patient calls, here are three simple tips to give them a WOW experience:

1. Smile when you are talking! As I was just starting out, it was hard for my introverted-self to be bubbly on the phone. As hard as it can be for some, it CAN be trained if you work hard enough. A great tip is to have a mirror on your desk and actually SMILE when you are talking on the phone. You wouldn't believe the effect it has on your voice. Don't believe me? Try it now!

2. Don't start asking about their insurance and details right away. First, get to know the patient. Ask them who referred them (always assume your patients are raving about you and they didn't just find you on Google). Tell them about your Doctor and what makes your practice different. Ask them about their previous dental experiences and how we can make their visit with you more comfortable. Yes, you need to get the details but get those at the end of the phone call, not right away.

3. At the end of the phone call simply ask, "What other family members can I get scheduled for you today?" Such a simple but impactful sentence! While you have them impressed and comfortable on the phone, schedule their spouse or the kid's appointments. This simple question can make one phone call equal multiple appointments.

At BDC, we believe the new patient phone call may be the most important phone call you take. Don't wing it! We have scripts to walk you through the entire call from start to finish. 

Email me your questions at [email protected]

Get my Dental Freebies: https://www.bonddentalconsulting.com/dental-freebies

Here I will share my five easy DIY SEO tips. Search Engine Optimization does not have to be scary. Before you pay the big bucks to outsource this marketing tool, here are some things you can do in-office first.

"SEO"- the mysterious three letter acronym. Don't let tech mumbo jumbo paralyze you from knowing how to effectively increase your SEO (A.K.A. search engine optimization) for your dental office today. Today, I will share with you FIVE easy tips to increase your ranking on search engines:

1. NAP- No, I don't mean it's time to take a rest. N.A.P. stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. These three key elements are so important to have displayed accurately and in the exact same way across all your directories. What is a directory? A directory is any website that stores your office information. Think Yellowpages, Facebook, Healthgrades, Yelp, Angieslist... the list can literally go on forever.

2. Speaking of directories- this is what you can pay other companies thousands of dollars to work on! You need to claim your directories and keep them updated. However, it is possible to update your directories yourself and save a lot of money. An easy way to do this is to search your practice name in different search engines. See the directories that pop up. Claim your listing on the directory sites and keep a spreadsheet of all your log-ins for future updating. Keep digging and updating as you go.

3. Update your website! Google likes to see consistent changes to your website. An easy way to tackle this is to add a blog or FAQs to your site. Make sure to write blogs including search-engine friendly key terms, but not too obvious, that are at least 300-500 words long. Anything above 300 words is in Google's sweet spot.

4. Google My Business Page. You should be using your Google My Business page just like Facebook! Posting status changes bi-weekly and adding as many pictures as you can. This will help you stand apart from the crowd, as well as improve your SEO.

5. Reviews, reviews, reviews. I saved the best for last! Having your patients leave 5-star reviews may give you the biggest BUMP in your SEO. Word to the wise, make sure your patients are not using your office's WIFI to write these reviews. Google will notice they are written from the same IP address and you risk the chance of them deleting all your coveted Google reviews.

SEO doesn't have to be scary and it doesn't have to be expensive, but SEO does take a lot of time to do it right. If you want your dental SEO handled by a professional, reach out to Bond Dental Consulting for support. 

Email me your questions at [email protected]

Get your Dental Freebies at: https://www.bonddentalconsulting.com/dental-freebies

Set clear payment expectations with your patients upfront:
https://www.bonddentalconsulting.com/blog/can-i-just-be-billed

What if patients don't want to pay their bills or want to break it up into smaller payments then your office allows? This is what this podcast is all about.

Email me your questions at [email protected]

In this podcast, I will share a few of my secrets to make calling outstanding insurance claims more productive for your office. 

Is it that day of the week again? Time for your insurance aging calls, ugh! If only these calls didn’t have to take up all my afternoon. Could there be an easier and more effective way to track down insurance claims? There is! Let me give you 4 easy tricks to save your time, sanity, and collect more.

1. Gather Your Data

For the majority of us, we use a clearinghouse to electronically submit insurance claims. No more are the days of printing and mailing off our submissions, thank goodness! Not only is this much faster, but it gives us very important tracking information for calling on outstanding claims. Each time you send a claim electronically, it gives you the date and time stamp that it was accepted by the carrier. This information is vital when calling on overdue claims. When the agent says the claim is not on file, simply give them the date and time the “Carrier Acknowledges Receipt Of Claim”, along with the corresponding claim number. Are they stating that they did not receive an attachment? Have the NEA# ready. This usually solves most of the issues when a claim is “not on file.” Even before you call, in doing this step first, you may see that the claim was rejected for wrong subscriber information, incorrect payor ID, or invalid code. You may also find the attachment was rejected because the carrier does not accept electronic attachments. Save your precious minutes that you would have been on hold and check your submission data FIRST.

2. Insurance Portals and Mulit-tasking

Spend the extra time creating insurance logins for all the major insurance companies that you bill to. While this is front-loaded work, it saves hours of time you will spend on hold calling on one insurance claim. Save all your insurance login information on an excel sheet and update as password changes are needed. Save time: Click here for my insurance FREEBIES!

What about when you have to call? As we all know you can be on hold for five minutes and up to an hour in some cases. Make sure you have another task you can complete during this time. Can you check other claims on the portals? Can you send letters to your new patients, overdue accounts, or recare? Link together your on-hold time with other weekly activities where you do not need a phone. Get double the work done in the same amount of time.

3. Notes, Notes, and Notes

Most dental softwares have a note section to keep all your claim status notes updated. This spot is your best friend! If you are like me, with all the conversations you are having during the day, it is impossible to remember every little thing a representative said about every patient’s claim. This is where notes are so important. Track everything- what the representative said, where the resubmission needs to be faxed/mailed, the representative’s name, a reference number and your initials. If you utilize Softdent, which doesn’t have a notes section, that is where EXCEL or Google Sheets will come in handy. Detailed notes get you very far the next time you have to call on a claim. Don’t make double work for yourself and notate it the first time.

My Example Note Section:
-Insert Date-
Claim Status: _____, Action Taken: ______, Ref#_____, Rep Name: _____ -My Initials-

Next time you print your insurance aging report, make sure you checkmark to print your claim status notes. Keep it all in one place!

If your software does not have a note section, reach out to me for my free outstanding insurance claim tracking form.

4. Change in Your Attitude

We all know that call