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

10 minute read

Dental Claim Support (DCS) provides expert-led services and products designed to increase your dental business revenue, streamline your processes, and increase patient satisfaction. It’s common to have questions about how this partnership works and why it’s so effective—read on and imagine how we could support your operations and growth.

Since 2012, DCS has helped dental practices nationwide take control of their revenue cycle. What started as insurance billing support has evolved into a comprehensive suite of revenue cycle services and software products tailored to meet the growing demands of today’s dental teams and the higher expectations of their patients.

As we connect with dental teams of all shapes and sizes—private practices, oral surgery practices, and DSOs—we hear the same questions about how we operate. So, with the help of DCS’ Operations Manager, Stephenie Neville, we’ll answer those questions before we meet!

Key takeaways on what it’s like to work with DCS:

Ours is a true partnership—success with your account comes from our efforts and your cooperation
DCS aims to reduce your staff’s workload, not to replace them or push them out of their positions
Results vary based on the size of your dental business and the initial state of its systems and finances

Question #1. How many people will work on my account?

We recognize that every dental business is unique, so at DCS, we avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. A solo practice with modest production receives a different level of support from a multi-location group.

Stephenie Neville, DCS’ Operations Manager, shares this hands-on insight:

“Regardless of how many people you speak to at DCS, there's always our team of experts backing you and your team. With our insurance billing services, you will always have a minimum of two points of contact. If you choose to subscribe to additional services, then you will also have another point of contact for each of those.

That doesn't mean those contacts are the only people working on your account, though. It means they are the team members responsible for facilitating and streamlining our ongoing communication and making sure everything's documented.”

We will tailor the size and members of your billing team based on your volume, goals, and complexity. Whether you’re a single provider or part of a growing group, your billing team will scale with you.

Question #2. Who will I work with?

At DCS, we prioritize relationships with client-partners, so you won’t be left wondering who you’ll be speaking to from day to day — nor will you speak to someone different each time you call. Stephenie explains:

“You will always have a dedicated account manager. If you subscribe to multiple services, you will have an account manager for each service — essentially, they’re oversight for the skilled specialists who work alongside your team daily.”

If you have more than one location, it’s likely you will have multiple people working on each service for you. It mainly depends on the state of your insurance aging report, how many services you have, and your production level.

Your relationship with your account manager will be as productive and effective as you make it, which leads us to our next frequently asked question…

Question #3. How often will I talk to my point of contact?

We prioritize communication so we can form a true partnership—some might say we over-communicate! In fact, we chose the term “client-partners” instead of “customers” because it better reflects the depth of the relationship.

Stephenie goes into detail on how this partnership works:

“We really like to over-communicate. It is essential to be aligned while we work with an account. We have that as a goal internally, as well as with all of our client-partners: communication is key. So you're going to get digital communication almost daily, depending on what's going on.

For example, when posting has been completed by our team, you’ll get an email that tells you—in detail—everything that happened financially in your practice management software with insurance. Likewise, some offices don't like a ton of email, but they want to hear about more nitty-gritty things via text. So our team's always happy to text as well.

We really like to get our client-partners on the phone at least once a month to make sure everything is going well. And we get it—you're busy. You might not want to pick up the phone and talk to us, but that's really the best way for us to know that you're doing okay, and that we're continuing to serve you with excellence.”

When you work with DCS, you’ll always know where your practice stands regarding our progress with your billing process. Regular check-ins ensure that nothing slips through the cracks, keeping you informed about your collections.

Question #4. How does DCS handle my billing?

We’re proud of our DCS Knowledge Network—our pool of experts who utilize their insurance billing training, skills, and experience to ensure you collect all the revenue you’ve earned.

But you might be wondering, “How does DCS actually work with us?”

How DCS handles your insurance claims

It’s important to know that it will still be your team’s responsibility to create insurance claims. With their firsthand knowledge of your patients and their procedures, your team is in the best position to jumpstart claim submissions. Once a claim is submitted by your team, we’ll take it from there.

Stephenie explains the legal reason for this:

“Think of creating a claim as putting the dentist's signature on the line in the claim. When you create a claim, you are verifying that treatment has been rendered at that cost. That's something that someone in your office needs to do to ensure compliance.”

She continues with our strategy to beat timely filing deadlines:

“When it comes to insurance—and with aging reports, especially—we have to pay attention to the whole aged gambit, if you will. So we're going to look at any claims aged over 30 days, of course, but we also want to hone in on anything close to 90 days, to make sure we prevent any timely filing problems.

It really is a very strategic mindset when it comes to working aging reports, not only to clean them up but, once we get it into maintenance mode, to keep them there. Again, I'll double down on communication here, which is why it's so important for the office to always be watching out for our emails and take our phone calls.”

How DCS handles insurance billing

When it comes to how we handle insurance billing, we’re often asked…

“Will you put Explanation of Benefits (EOBs) in the patient's digital charts?”

Stephenie has this ready answer, as she gets this question all the time:

“As a standard practice, DCS does not place EOBs in patient charts, and there are very good reasons why. First and foremost, we have to keep HIPAA in mind when it comes to bulk EOBs. Sometimes when you bulk EOBs, you can end up with a patient who doesn't belong in a patient's chart, which violates HIPAA.

Even if you go down the scenario of screenshots, you still don't have the reason codes. It becomes very time-consuming if you don't have a cloud-based software. Putting all of that information in each patient’s chart eats up a ton of space on your server. So DCS aside, you really wouldn't want to do that. You would want to leverage a digital filing cabinet where patient EOBs can be looked up very easily.”

When you speak to one of our experts, you can go even deeper into the weeds about how we remotely—and securely—access your software to manage your dental insurance claims.

Question #5. How do I get started, and how soon will I see results?

The first part has an easy answer: you can get started within a few days.

The second part is more complex because it depends on several variables…

Immediately after we receive your signed contract, we’ll send you equipment that will ensure scanning in payments is as easy as possible. The communication we mentioned earlier also starts immediately. As soon as you receive your equipment, tour work officially starts. On average, you’ll be fully equipped, and we can start our part in about 10 business days.

Results are a bit trickier to pinpoint because each dental practice’s accounts receivable (A/R) arrives in different conditions. However, Stephenie offers this insight into what you can expect:

“When we talk about results, let's talk about what kind of results. There may be a little bit of chaos as you get started. If you're outsourcing for the first time, you're getting used to having somebody communicate with you who isn’t sitting at a nearby desk at the same time. But this still should result in you worrying about insurance claims less and less.

As far as collections results go, they can vary. Some offices have a lot of paid claims not posted—where EFTs have been released to the bank account, but they haven't posted them in the PMS. If that’s your situation, we need to get that cleaned up so you can get your patient billing in line and get patient statements out. If you have a high aging report, it can take a little bit longer. Some appeal turnaround times are faster than others; it all depends on the insurance company.

Whichever way we begin, you should see a significant increase in your collections and a decrease in your aging report within the first 60 days. Depending on what your numbers were when you started, by the six-month mark, it should really feel like a well-oiled machine. You should be able to focus on your production goals and getting your internal staff to the point of success with the patient side of things because we've been handling the billing side.”

It’s worth repeating that if your insurance aging report is a tangle, then our Account Specialists will need more time to clean it up. They will work diligently to collect everything you’re owed, allowing you to scale your dental practice and focus on patients.

Question #6. What is DCS’ termination policy?

We believe in earning your business month after month, which is why we keep termination simple: no long-term contracts, no surprise fees. If you ever need to pause or end services, we’ll work with you to ensure the transition is smooth.

“DCS wants what's best for your practice, and in order to deliver that, there are no long-term contracts. Nobody wants to do something they don't want to do anymore, right? So our standard process is just a 30-day notice.

This way, we can ensure we part ways with your success in mind and set your staff up for success after we leave.” —Stephenie Neville, Operations Manager of DCS

As you can see, we’re very straightforward here at DCS. No tricks, just expert service with a hyper-focus on communication with your team. We’re here to make your team’s lives easier and get them back to what they truly care about: Patient experience.

Now let’s see how this will work for your practice — book a time to chat

To recap, we answered these 6 questions about what it’s like to work with DCS:

Question #1: How many people will work on my account?
Question #2: Who will I work with?
Question #3: How often will I talk to my point of contact?
Question #4: How does DCS handle my billing?
Question #5: How do I get started, and how soon will I see results?
Question #6: What is DCS’ termination policy?

Still have questions? We’d love to talk through how we can support your team with insurance verification, credentialing, insurance billing, and/or special project services.

DCS is here to help you collect more and worry less: Book a free 30-minute consultation today.

Dental revenue resources from Dental Claim Support