Dental office managers: Want a raise? Increase practice profitability

Dental office managers are the backbone of every successful practice. You’re the one balancing patient care with business operations to keep the office running smoothly and keep patients happy. If you’re ready for a pay raise, here’s where to find the money to cover it—and the strategic business thinking to prove it. 

As the dental office manager, you’re likely a Jack (or Jill) of all trades, taking on various roles at your practice. Many of your responsibilities impact and involve the profitability and efficiency of the dental practice. Essentially, you’re an operations manager. 

Because you contribute so much to the profitability of the practice, it’s reasonable to expect you might deserve additional compensation for running the business. But there are many factors to consider, the main one being the need for more revenue to fund a pay increase. 

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That’s where insurance billing services come in. When you leverage a third-party dental insurance billing service to directly increase the practice’s revenue, you position yourself as more than an office manager. You become a strategic growth partner—an ally for increased profitability who understands the big picture, as well as the day-to-day.

This gives you a foundation to make a strong case for the raise or bonus you’ve earned, and also the revenue to pay for it. Let’s make it happen for you.

Key takeaways when increasing dental practice profitability 

• Dental office managers are the backbone of profitability and deserve greater recognition and compensation that reflects their impact.
• Insurance billing services recover lost revenue, streamline A/R, and boost cash flow, directly benefiting both the practice and its team.
• By introducing dental billing services, office managers position themselves as strategic growth partners, improve in-office operations, and strengthen their case for a pay raise or bonus.

Do dental office managers have a pivotal role in a dental practice? YES!

Can you tell DCS loves office managers? Actually, most of our employees are former office managers, and all 3 DCS founders were office managers too. Office managers are crucial to a dental practice’s financial health and patient experience. 

When an office manager is effective, you can feel it: the dental team is happy, patients are satisfied, and the dental practice’s finances are healthy. It becomes even more obvious when an office manager is struggling or overwhelmed because it appears throughout the business: faulty operations, scheduling gaps, missed payments, and frustrated staff. 

As an office manager, you juggle everything from collections and insurance claim processing to scheduling and staff leadership. Often you’re wearing 10 different hats at once. But here’s the reality: your compensation may not reflect your full value to the practice. 

When the practice grows in profitability due to your actions, it’s reasonable that you benefit directly from that growth. But if the practice isn’t growing financially—which could be due to myriad reasons outside your control—then there will be little to no resources available for raises and bonuses.

Your practice owner can’t share the wealth when there’s no wealth to share.

So where do dental practices typically lose money? Here’s what we saw as office managers and now hear from our client-partners… 

The Profitability Problem: 3 places where dental practices lose money

Let’s explore where the practice could be losing revenue that could be used to give you the raise you’ve earned.

1. Unpaid insurance claims. Revenue sitting in accounts receivable (A/R) until it’s lost to timely filing or uncollectible.

Claims work is probably not your favorite part of being an office manager. And because you have so many other responsibilities on your plate, and your team is occupied elsewhere, claim submission and follow-up may take a back seat to more urgent tasks. 

When this happens often enough, it will negatively affect your overall revenue. Denied insurance claims lead to delayed payments and write-offs. The longer that payment is delayed, the less likely your dental practice gets paid at all, especially once the claim reaches its timely filing deadline. Then there’s little to no choice but to write off that payment.

2. Understaffing. Front desk staff doesn’t have time to follow up consistently on unpaid claims.

What makes it even harder to manage claims is lack of help. If you’re a busy office manager who can’t get to the insurance billing work, ideally you would assign the task to another team member.

But the reality is that, oftentimes, office managers only have 1 or 2 other people on their administrative team—and maybe no help at all. And those other team members are likely handling in-office patients: checking them in, answering phones, or handling treatment presentations.

When your dental team is stretched thin, you’re forced to focus on the urgent or current issues right in front of you, and that’s rarely ever claims work. So again, denied claims lead to delays in payments—and perhaps revenue lost to write-offs.

Related: The #1 report your dental team needs to understand: The insurance aging report

3. Errors and omissions. Incomplete and incorrect claims delay payments and slow cash flow.

Errors in the dental billing process happen. We’re all human—but when mistakes are made with insurance or patient payments, it costs your practice, literally. 

When a claim is denied and you or your team have to spend time appealing it, that’s time you could have been spending with a patient in the office, following up on unscheduled treatment, or a dozen other things.

But the claim must be appealed to collect the money that’s been earned and is needed to maintain cash flow for a healthy business. The problem is clear: multiple high-priority tasks that require a lot of your valuable time at the same time. And we know that’s stressful for you and the team.

So how do you avoid these 3 profitability problems that impact your ability to ask for (and justify) a raise or bonus?

How do insurance billing services unlock more revenue?

Insurance billing services can turn these challenges into opportunities for growth. Here’s what DCS can do for you: 

1. Hands-free claim management for you and your team. DCS Account Specialists handle claim submissions and follow-ups.

You know all the time-consuming claims work that directly impacts your dental practice’s revenue? DCS billing experts would handle all of it. Your team would only create the claim and include the proper attachments and information. Our team ensures submitted claims are free of errors, then handles everything from there. 

Yes, DCS billing experts also manage your insurance aging report, following up on every unpaid insurance claim to ensure it gets appealed and paid. Our client-partners are often surprised at the abundance of revenue they see after their aging report has been worked regularly by experts. 

2. Fewer errors and fewer denials. Reduced denials mean quicker insurance collections and consistent cash flow.

Another great part about working with insurance billing experts is fewer claims will be denied. At DCS, your Account Manager knows what’s required to have every claim paid promptly, and they will help you tailor a process that works for your team to get each claim created and submitted as soon as possible. 

The fewer denials you have, the more revenue you’ll see—and the sooner you’ll see it. 

3. Less revenue in limbo. A cleaner aging report with fewer lingering balances.

Every dental professional we know hates “working” (resolving old claims) on their insurance aging report, but that’s where your outstanding revenue lives—until it becomes uncollectible and is written off.

The problem with working your aging report is that it takes hours of attention and perhaps a quiet room where you can focus and get it done. Large blocks of uninterrupted time aren’t always an option for a busy office manager.

Read more: What is it like to work with DCS? 6 questions answered

With DCS Insurance Billing, your Account Manager works your aging report consistently and continually. You won’t have to call insurance companies and wait on hold anymore. You won’t forsake a patient who just walked in because you’re on the phone with insurance.

Instead, you can give your full attention to in-office patients while our remote billing team takes care of your aging report.

When DCS is handling your insurance billing, you’ll see increased cash flow, which offers the practice more resources to invest in its people, including a pay increase for the business-savvy office manager who helped make the transformation happen.

How using insurance billing services benefits you as an office manager

When the bulk of your tedious insurance billing workflow is handled by experts outside your office, that everyday burden is lifted and your day’s work will become more manageable and even more rewarding. Instead of spending hours on the phone each week chasing down unpaid insurance claims, you’ll be focused on what truly matters: leading your team, improving workflows, and elevating the patient experience. 

Plus, when you utilize insurance billing services, you’ll have real numbers to prove that your leadership directly increased the profitability of the practice, which will strengthen your case when you approach your dentist about a raise or bonus.

By bringing in a solution that boosts the practice’s bottom line, you position yourself as a growth-minded leader and strategic ally, not just an office manager.

How will you make over your insurance billing process to support  a higher salary?

To recap, we covered: 

• The pivotal role dental office managers play in dental practice revenue
• 3 things that will cause profitability problems at your dental practice
• 3 ways third-party insurance billing services like DCS increase profitability, paving the way for a pay raise or bonus
• How utilizing insurance billing services positions you as a leader who is revenue-minded

Transforming practice profitability into a pay increase is all about getting positive results and making the impact visible.

Highlight your role in identifying the problem, bringing in the solution, and driving measurable improvements. By framing yourself as a person who proactively grows the business, you create a compelling case for higher pay.

The right billing partner will help you, as well as help the practice. With more cash flow, less stress, and clear proof of impact, you can confidently advocate for the compensation you deserve. Take the initiative—and take control of your career path: Book a free 30-minute consultation with DCS today.