Learn how posting patient payments and insurance payments efficiently results in cleaner accounting for your office and more accurate reports.
Previously, I wrote about efficiently posting patient payments. In this article I wanted to give some tips on the best ways to post dental insurance payments.
When posting insurance payments, you have the option to post a payment to an individual claim by double-clicking an open claim in the patient Ledger.
You can also post a payment as a batch insurance payment. I really like using the batch insurance feature because it helps you to post payments accurately. You enter the total amount of the check, and then allocate payment among the patients it applies to. If your allocations do not match up with the total amount of the check, Dentrix will warn you that your amounts don’t match. This can save you a lot of time by knowing right away that amounts don’t match instead of at the end of the day while running your end of day reports.
Whether you decide to use the batch insurance feature or post to an individual claim, I recommend you take the time to post itemized insurance payments and update the payment table. By updating the payment table, Dentrix will remember the amount the insurance company will pay for a procedure code. This is especially helpful when treatment planning that procedure code for any patient covered under the same insurance plan.
Another feature that can be helpful when posting insurance payments is the ability to split an insurance claim. This allows you to split a claim while retaining any notes attached to the claim. This feature is beneficial when the insurance plan pays for some of the procedures on the claim but requires more information to pay for the other procedures.
For example, if you file a dental insurance claim for a crown and a core build-up, the insurance may only pay for the core build-up until they receive the date that the crown was seated. In this case you could split the insurance claim, post the payment to the core build-up, and the claim for the crown will remain outstanding. This is beneficial because the outstanding claim will remain on your Insurance Aging Report in order for you to track and follow up on the claim. Dentrix will also calculate patient portions and insurance portions of the family balance correctly when the claim remains outstanding.
Posting patient payments and insurance payments efficiently results in cleaner accounting for your office and more accurate reports. The features in Dentrix can help you to post patient and insurance payments more accurately.
Learn More
For additional information, read the following :
- Efficiently Posting Patient Payments for Cleaner Accounting and Accurate Reporting
- Tips for Posting Insurance Payments in Dentrix
By Charlotte Skaggs
Certified Dentrix Trainer and The Dentrix Office Manager columnist
Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for over 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.
