There are two key ways to save money when using electronic claims. While saving money is almost a guarantee, it is just one of the numerous benefits when converting to an electronic claims process or switching to a new electronic claims provider.
The easiest way for any dental office to save money in the claims process is to simply switch from paper based claims submissions to electronic based claims submissions. If you’re sending at least 100 claims a month, in almost every circumstance no matter what electronic claims software you are using, you will save money over the paper based claims submission approach.
The cost to send electronic claims using the software your practice management software provider offers (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, SoftDent, PracticeWorks, etc.) costs roughly $.50 per claims submission. Using a comparable paper based approach, when you include the cost of a stamp, envelope, printing and ink, costs approximately $1.00 per submission. When using this paper based submission approach, the claims process would cost the office roughly $2,400 annually (assuming 200 claims are submitted per month and you are working 220 days per year). Using the same approach and submitting claims electronically, your costs would be roughly $1,200 per year*. Your savings under this scenario will be roughly 50 percent as far as the eye can see.
Another way to save even more money in the claims process is to utilize a third party claims software that integrates with your practice management software. There are multiple third party platforms available with different costs and feature sets. The Wisconsin Dental Association endorses EDS Bridge claims software for its robust workflow features and low claims processing cost. The software has almost identical workflows as those systems your practice management provider offers, but at significantly lower cost. WDA members receive two months of unlimited claims processing free, plus it’s only $.24 per claim
For more information on the WDA-endorsed EDS bridge visit: http://www.dentalrecord.com/eds-bridge
*The cost for electronic attachment software (to attach images to support your claims) is ignored in this analysis as the software attachment cost is assumed to be roughly equivalent to the cost to print or scan images to a disk and send off in the mail.
