Is the Doctor There an In-Network Provider With My Insurance?
A front desk person at a dental practice gets a call from a potential patient. After some pleasantries and basic questions about appointments, the potential patient asks the front desk person the following question:
“Is the doctor at your office an in-network provider with (name of potential patient’s insurance provider)?”
While a patient might not ask this question so pointedly, it is a common concern. Of course, for many practices, with the linked networks and hundreds of PPOs its extremely difficult for the front desk person to know each PPO the doctor is contracted with. So, with that in mind, below is one way for the front desk person to respond:
“We accept and work with nearly every dental insurance plan available and help all of our patients maximize their benefits!
So, tell me how this sounds to you: We can go ahead and get you scheduled for an appointment at a time that’s most convenient for you, which I can get scheduled with both Dr ______ and our hygienist ______ who you are going to love, they are awesome! Once I have all your information, I will also check with your insurance company and do a complimentary benefits analysis for you. That way, we can confirm exactly what benefits you have and how we can maximize every dollar of those benefits that are available to you.”
While that might be kind of a long response to remember, it can help to break it down into its essential parts:
- Let the patient know that your office accepts most insurance plans.
- Get their appointment scheduled.
- Do a benefits verification to help the patient get as much use out of it as possible.
While some patients will follow up and ask specifically about in-network status of their particular plan there are many patients who simply want to make sure you will work with their plan and will help them use their benefits.
