Benefits of Implementing a Virtual Office Assistant in Dental Practices

Hey, this is Amber Darst, Dental Insurance Co-ordinator from Managed Outsource Solutions. I will be discussing the benefits of implementing a virtual office assistant in dental practices.

00:12 Introduction about Virtual Dental Office Assistant

Virtual dental office assistant services take care of everything from digital marketing tasks, patient intake and scheduling to dental insurance verifications, dental billing and account management. Hiring all or part of these dental functions will help your front-office staff focus on the key operational tasks, thereby ensuring that patients receive a high level of care.

00: 37 Reasons Why a Practice May Benefit From A Virtual Office Assistant

Your practice may benefit from a virtual office assistant if you experiencing any one or more of the following issues in your dental office –

• A growing list of unresolved insurance claims that are past 90-days-old.
• Unscheduled patients who are due for dental hygiene appointments or have outstanding treatment plans.
• Phone calls that are not being answered in a timely manner, or
• A low treatment acceptance rate as patients don’t have the insurance benefit information ahead of time to make an informed decision about their treatment.

01:13 How does virtual dental office assistant support your staff?

Here are a few ways in which a virtual dental office assistant can support your staff-

• Scheduling patient appointments: As a virtual assistant’s job is primarily focused on scheduling new appointments, they can easily fix up more appointments and convert more new patient calls to new patient appointments than your existing staff. When compared to the front desk team that has to simultaneously answer phones, deal with paperwork, and work with the patients that are coming through the front door, virtual assistants don’t get distracted by those issues. They are able to easily manage appointment scheduling, save time, and help increase practice revenue without those extra outside distractions.
• Insurance claims submission and follow-up: Dental virtual office assistants provide adequate insurance support to get claims processed and paid promptly. They help track down and collect patients contact, insurance and payment information for claims processing. In addition, dental insurance eligibility verifications are done for both new and existing patients prior to the date of their service.
• Dental Billing: Dental virtual office assistants are trained professionals with in-depth knowledge about the dental billing and coding guidelines along with addition and revision of the CDT codes. This ensures accurate billing and optimal reimbursement.
• Remaining updated with dental claim status: So claims can at times get denied or delayed for several reasons. Virtual assistants will remain updated about the status of the claims, whether accepted or rejected. In the case of rejected claims, appeals will be submitted and followed up on until payment is received.

02:58 Benefits of Virtual Dental Office Assistant

So few benefits of choosing a Virtual Assistant for your dental practice include –

• Fewer staffing headaches and re-trainings
• Quick turnaround times
• More efficient levels of service — as we were saying earlier, virtual assistants don’t have any extra outside distractions so they can focus on their task at hand.
• Verifications are done before the point of service outlining patient’s out-of-pocket costs, which allows for collection from patients while they are in the office.

One of the top benefits of hiring a dental office virtual assistant is that you hire a specialist with expertise in that specific area. This means that there is very limited cost involved in training and the virtual assistant can hit the ground running. Using virtual assistants in dentistry allows the in-office team time to primarily focus on patient care, whereas other time-consuming tasks can be done easily completed behind the scenes by the virtual assistant. Whether you want to delegate the majority of your dental front office administrative work, or just a part of it, you could increase practice profitability by outsourcing it to a virtual office assistant. Outsourcing virtual dental office assistant services can significantly reduce the amount of time and effort spent on your human resource needs.

And that’s it. I hope you enjoy this podcast and that you’ll consider how a virtual assistant can benefit the day-to-day operations of your dental practice.

Thanks!