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The other day we got a phone call from a new dental insurance company attempting to build their panel of dentists in the Salt Lake area. My office manager asked them to send us their fee schedule and we would consider joining. The fee schedule came, and we made a close observation to see if they cover our top forty codes we use the most. We noticed they had fees associated with them, but the real question was this, “do you pay out on all the fees you are showing on your contracted fee schedule”? The representative engaged in conversation [...]

We’ve all seen them, the dirty little tricks insurance companies do to make our lives a living hell, right? At My Practice My Business our dental consulting helps practices deal with this “hell” head on with our Clinical Business of Dentistry Training. However, here is a small list of typical insurance tricks they use to torment us, and how to deal with them. -Baked in codes: This is one of my favorites. It’s where they tell you to include the build-up code with your crown code, therefore, giving away the build-up. If you look at your contracted fees, you will see the CDT [...]

One of our team members at MPMB reached out to a long-term client of ours, and spent some time training a new office manager on our cloud-based dental software and key concepts with the Clinical Business of Dentistry Training. When it came to teaching the OM about upgrading, and the documents in My Dental Docs to print out, she said, “Oh no, we don’t upgrade as we have chosen not to nickel and dime our patients.” The MPMB team trainer asked her if they upgrade anything, and it came out they DO upgrade implants so that they can use the hi-end grade five [...]

Whenever I give a lecture with the Clinical Business of Dentistry Seminar, which is the introductory to our Clinical Business of Dentistry Training at My Practice My Business, I always ask a few questions to watch people squirm in their chairs. Question 1: How many of you take intraoral photos on your patients to show or prove the need for treatment and charge for it like you would an x-ray? Question 2: How many of you upgrade and charge for more expensive all porcelain crowns? Question 3: How many of you take x-rays on cementations to make sure the crown is seated and [...]

We’ve all seen them, the dirty little tricks insurance companies do to make our lives a living hell, right? At My Practice My Business, our dental consulting helps practices deal with this “hell” head on with our Clinical Business of Dentistry Training. However, here is a small list of typical insurance tricks they use to torment us, and how to deal with them. -Baked in codes: This is one of my favorites. It’s where they tell you to include the build-up code with your crown code, therefore, giving away the build-up. If you look at your contracted fees, you will see [...]

It’s no mystery with all who know me that I love Disney! I grew up watching the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday at 6pm, eating dinner on a TV tray in front of an RCA color television. I was so blessed… We teach in our Clinical Business of Dentistry Training the importance of giving our patients, what we call, the Disney experience. One of our Facebook reviews exemplifies what I’m talking about: “Dr. Rob and his staff are the best! They are all so friendly, do great work, provide a clean/welcoming environment, and are very educational- they truly care! And major [...]

There I was, sitting in a Utah Dental Association (UDA) Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) meeting that all practicing dentists in our state must attend if they want their malpractice insurance rates to stay low. These meetings are conducted by our UDA officers, and they do a good job at bringing issues to light which help us be better practitioners. On one occasion, our UDA President was taking questions and giving out answers to the best of his ability. One of our colleagues asked the question that many dentists have wondered. “How do insurance companies determine their contracted fees with us?” [...]

For all of you who verify insurance coverage on every patient coming in the next day, for all of you who verify insurance coverage on every procedure, for all of you who enjoy watching yellow stone set, for all of you who truly utilize about 30% of your practice management software system, for all of you who enjoy children screaming in your ear while doing a prophy, this article is for you! The question is: when should you verify insurance coverage, and when should you not? Or I should ask: when is it valuable to verify insurance coverage and when [...]

Nothing! Most days that’s what it seems like. Some of my favorite phrases were: “That’s not the amount I was quoted” “You’re doing a root canal and crown today? Why?” “You want how much for that cleaning?” “You scheduled me for three hours but I only have an hour” Are you kidding me? Unbelievable! Those are just some of the phrases I’ve heard throughout the years. I use to hear those statements more often than I want to admit. Most patients will only retain 10% of what you told them while in your office. With such a small retention rate of [...]

What you are about to learn is something they should really teach us in dental school. That is, case acceptance is grounded in biology. Who would have guessed?! If we look at the brain from the top down, you would see three sections: The inner section is known as the Reptilian Brain. This section is where the fight or flight section resides. It’s the instinct and survival section. The outer section is the Neocortex. This is where analytical and rational thought is processed. It’s basically the number crunching section of the brain. The middle section is the Limbic System. This [...]