Discover three new features to help you better manage patient insurance benefits and payments.
Updated 9/29/21
Dentrix G7.5 includes new features and improvements to how insurance works, including the ability to leave a claim open after posting payment and enter the allowed amount for a procedure code. Below are three features designed to help your practice better manage patients’ dental insurance.
Watch the on-demand webinar recording to learn more about the new features in Dentrix G7.5 and prepare your team for the upgrade.
Posting Partial Insurance Payments
Dentrix G7.5 gives you the ability to post a partial insurance payment. I think this new feature is going to be especially useful when you’re posting a payment for an orthodontic claim or another type of claim that is paid over a period of time.
By posting a claim as partially paid, the claim will remain “open” instead of closing the claim and appearing as if the guarantor owes the remaining account balance. You have the option to exclude partially paid claims from the Insurance Aging Report; or if you choose to include them, there will be an asterisk to indicate the claim has been partially paid.
You also have the option to exclude accounts with partially paid claims when sending billing statements. This can help to eliminate patient confusion when sending a statement. For example, if you were to send a statement to a patient with a $1000 account balance which you are expecting dental insurance to pay over the next twelve months, the patient may call your office concerned about the account balance. By not sending statements to these accounts, you can avoid confusion.
Tracking Allowed Amounts
Another new feature in Dentrix G7.5 is the option to enter and track allowed amounts for procedures. You’ll find the allowed amounts in the same window as the payment table within the Dental Insurance Benefits and Coverage window. Within the payment table there are two columns: the Paid column should contain the amount the insurance company actually paid for a procedure, and the Allowed column should contain the insurance company’s allowed fee for a procedure.
For example, if your office fee for a two-surface posterior filling is $300, but the insurance company’s allowable amount is $200, and the insurance company will pay 80% of their allowable amount, you would enter $160 in the Paid column of the payment table and $200 in the Allowed column.
Paid amounts entered in the payment table are taken into account when calculating patient estimates. For example, when you create a treatment plan for that procedure code for a patient covered under the insurance plan, the payment table Paid amount of $160 will be calculated into the estimate, therefore calculating the patient portion accurately as well. However, amounts entered in the Allowed column are NOT included in insurance estimates but are for reference only.
You can update the payment table, including allowable amounts, through the Dental Insurance Benefits and Coverage window (see image above) or when you’re posting insurance payments (see image below).
Calculating Write-Off Amounts
In Dentrix G7.5 you also have the option to change how Dentrix will calculate default write-off adjustments. It can adjust off the difference between either the paid amount and the procedure amount, or the procedure amount and the allowed amount. This will be very beneficial for offices that prefer to post their office fee to the patient’s Ledger and then make insurance adjustments. You can choose which way adjustments should work in the Ledger by clicking File > Insurance Payment Setup. Then, under Calculate default write-off amount by difference between, select the option you prefer.
Some offices prefer to handle accounts this way to track insurance write-offs and adjustments, so this new feature will be really helpful for them while posting insurance payments.
Conclusion
The new insurance features in Dentrix G7.5 can help you to track insurance claims more easily, especially for claims paid over a period of time, like orthodontic claims. The option to exclude these types of accounts from billing statements will help to avoid patient confusion when it comes to their balance.
The option to enter insurance allowable amounts will help you to track insurance payments more accurately, and the default adjustments between procedure amounts and allowable amounts will help you to make adjustments more quickly and accurately.
There are many more great improvements to use in Dentrix G7.5! Click to learn more about Dentrix G7.5 new features.
Learn More
- Watch the on-demand webinar recording to learn more about the new features in Dentrix G7.5 and prepare your team for the upgrade.
- Visit the What’s New Blog to watch videos and read articles about the latest features 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 [email protected].
