Many of the larger dental insurance plans have so many customers that they can dictate reimbursements to dental practices with little to no pushback. This can be frustrating, but dental insurance is an integral part of how your practice delivers care, and practices must adopt new strategies and techniques to remain successful.
Start with an analysis. The starting point of all decision-making and strategy should be analysis. Most dental practices know very little about the statistics or metrics surrounding their dental plans and how they are being affected. Performing an insurance analysis will give you a complete understanding of your unique dental insurance situation and how it's affecting your practice. Then you can design strategies to help maximize your plan participation and make better decisions when evaluating future participation.
Don't forget to reach out to patients every January. No matter how hard you work to explain the value of dentistry to your patients, there will still be many who will not continue treatment once they have run out of insurance benefits. So, calling patients in early January to let them know that their benefits have renewed, and they have remaining treatment is a smart strategy.
Roger P. Levin, DDS, is the CEO of Levin Group, a leading dental management consulting firm, and one of the most sought-after speakers in dentistry. Dr. Levin has authored 65 books and more than 4,000 articles on dental practice management and marketing. You can sign up for the Levin Group Tip of the Day.
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