How to Improve Your Billing Cash Flow with Outsourcing
Within the first few years, new businesses tend to lack the ability to produce a cost analysis of their projects and customers, causing a lack of income and financial control. Hiring new staff members, processing payments to insurance claims, and keeping current on the latest regulatory requirements can become an overwhelming burden for small-sized practices. Developing a consistent, accurate methodology for allocating expenses involves knowing how much your customers or projects are worth. If you, as a business owner, cannot estimate the amount of money lost or gained for each patient, then your business won’t operate at full capacity.
Table 1: Comparison of Top 5 Dental Billing and Insurance Processing Companies – Digits and Numbers
| Item Name | Company Size | Founded | Google Ratings | BBB Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assist Dental Solutions | 200-500 employees | 2009 | 100+ 5-star reviews | NR, Not BBB Accredited |
| Dental Claims Cleanup | 50-100 Employees | 2015 | 4.4 stars out of 15 Google reviews | N/A |
| Ceterus | 50-200 Employees | 2008 | 3.0 stars out of 10 Google reviews | NR, Not BBB Accredited |
| Dental Support Specialties LLC | 200-500 employees | 2009 | 4.9 stars out of 29 Google reviews | NR, Not BBB Accredited |
| Avitus Dental | 200-500 employees | 1996 | N/A | NR, Not BBB Accredited |
Dentists need to develop their practice for efficiency not just with their medical background but also with their office structure. Today’s typical dentist’s office consists of one dentist, a hygienist, at least one to two assistants, and maybe even one front desk receptionist. Today’s dentistry field relies heavily on insurance, so dental billing expertise has now become a high demand for these professions. Yet, the typical dental office cannot afford to accommodate a team of accountants to manage insurance claims. Most often, practices with little to no experience in processing contain an internal problem with their business knowledge. The more the insurance benefits decrease, the more the copay for the patient increases, and the acceptance rate for those claims decreases to the point where the balance account will need to be recovered, reflecting a lack of accountability and direction on the practice image.
Because so much money is lost due to poor money management, outsourcing companies turn this issue into a more stable cash flow, developing management plans and aiding in claims processing to reform their billing situations. Outsourcing companies use their billing skills to produce more “clean claims” or claims without any issues, allowing the money to be processed and returned to practice within three weeks. Outsourcing helps reduce the number of calls to practices, will constantly interact with insurance payers, and will have extensive access to organized data about your business. You’ll experience fewer billing errors overall. Outsourcing gives dentists full concentration on their patients and practice and removes any billing errors that could erase any goodwill you’ve developed with your patients over time.
Now, if you’ve chosen to work with an outsourcing company as a partner in your practice, then deciding who you’ll look into for these interests will determine your success. Factors such as company history, employee numbers, previous projects, how they communicate during conference calls, and how their technical knowledge exceeds their promises. The only way to know if the company will benefit you is to test out the relationship within the first few years. Smaller outsourcing companies can pay greater attention to their clients, but larger companies can have a reputation for upholding their services much longer than smaller companies. The pros and cons weigh heavily, but outsourcing can significantly benefit your business if you know where to look.
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Table 2: Comparison of Top 5 Dental Billing and Insurance Processing Companies – Features and Other
| Item Name | Services Provided | Awards Received | Geographical Reach | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assist Dental Solutions | Electronic billing service for dentists | Over 6 awards for their services since 2016, including awards from Inc. 500 and the Financial Times | Europe and South America | eAssist builds its reputation of speedy resolution of insurance claims and a charismatic focus on client satisfaction. |
| Dental Claims Cleanup | National level dental billing services | N/A | N/A | Their serving clientele includes retiring dentists, new buyers for practices, offices with unresolved dental claims, and dentists with difficulties finding the right dental biller to do the job. |
| Ceterus | Accounting services for small business entrepreneurs | Recommended by the ADA for its expertise in the accounting industry | N/A | Ceterus pairs its accounting services with technology to give a fully customized Edge software solution that analyzes and tracks financial changes in your business. |
| Dental Support Specialties LLC | Account receivable recovery services | N/A | N/A | Dental Support Specialties provides seamless support by understanding their dentist’s needs and communicating effectively with their clients to maximize their returns. |
| Avitus Dental | Administrative support on a nationwide scale | N/A | N/A | Avitus Dental provides its administrative support on a nationwide scale, serving dentists and other growing businesses with their payroll, accounting, and HR services. |
1. Assist Dental Solutions
Google Ratings: 100+ 5-star reviews
Company size: 200-500 employees
Company type: Privately Held
Founded: 2009
BBB Ratings: NR, Not BBB Accredited
eAssist Dental Solutions, an electronic billing service for dentists, has received over 6 awards for their services since 2016, including awards from Inc. 500 and the Financial Times, making them one of the fastest-growing companies in the medical billing industry. eAssist builds its reputation of of speedy resolution of insurance claims and a charismatic focus on client satisfaction. The company has earned a revenue of$1.5 million within the last few years and has international reach within Europe and South America. Its end-to-end solutions aim to ease the burden on office staff by optimizing claim payments and appeals processing to give clients a more profitable, patient-focused practice.
2. Dental Claims Cleanup
Google Ratings: 4.4 stars out of 15 Google reviews
Company size: 50-100 Employees
Company type: Private Limited Company
Founded: 2015
BBB Ratings: N/A
Dental Claims Cleanup takes pride in its expertise and capabilities and has recruited its dental billing services on a national level to promote better practice growth and accounting numbers. Dental Claims Cleanup began under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Kassab, who has been in the dental industry since 2000. Prior to her position in dentistry, Dr. Kassab worked in medical billing and began the business under the belief that dental practices should be able to outsource their billing just like the rest of the healthcare industry. Their serving clientele includes retiring dentists, new buyers for practices, offices with unresolved dental claims, and dentists with difficulties finding the right dental biller to do the job.
3. Ceterus
Google Ratings: 3.0 stars out of 10 Google reviews
Company size: 50-200 Employees
Company type: Privately Held
Founded: 2008
BBB Ratings: NR, Not BBB Accredited
Ceterus, recommended by the ADA for its expertise in the accounting industry, Ceterus serves small business entrepreneurs by taking the hassle of bookkeeping out of their hands. Ceterus pairs its accounting services with technology to give a fully customized Edge software solution that analyzes and tracks financial changes in your business. Ceterus offers a focused SBE accounting team to support you in tracking your financial information and helps outsource your billing to insurance companies to help you regain your claims and keep money in your pocket.
4. Dental Support Specialties LLC
Google Ratings: 4.9 stars out of 29 Google reviews
Company size: 200-500 employees
Company type: Privately Held
Founded: 2009
BBB Ratings: NR, Not BBB Accredited
Dental Support Specialties caters to dentists by providing a multitude of services, including answering phone calls and insurance verification. For dentists searching for a billing solution, Dental Support Specialties understands how dentists rely on a steady flow of revenue and thus offers their account receivable recovery services, operated by their customer service team to handle all the issues that come with interacting with insurance companies and their administrative departments. Dental Support Specialties provides seamless support by understanding their dentist’s needs and communicating effectively with their clients to maximize their returns.
5. Avitus Dental
Google Ratings: N/A
Company size: 200-500 employees
Company type: Privately Held
Founded: 1996
BBB Ratings: NR, Not BBB Accredited
Avitus Dental provides its administrative support on a nationwide scale, serving dentists and other growing businesses with their payroll, accounting, and HR services. Avitus Dental makes billing simple by verifying patient insurance, managing patient statements, following up on insurance claims, giving dentists practice software to track their finances, and much more through their customer support team and practice analysis software to improve cash flow. Their services have ranked among the highest for their support because their services aim for the highest approval from dentists.
