Written By Sarah Beth Herman, CEO
Running a dental practice isn’t easy. Between managing patient care, handling billing, verifying insurance eligibility, and leading your team, it can feel like you’re constantly behind. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
The truth? Many dental offices struggle because they try to do everything themselves.
This free training is specifically designed for dental professionals who are ready to take their practices to the next level. We’ll uncover the common challenges holding your office back and provide actionable steps to streamline operations, lighten your team’s workload, and set your practice up for sustainable growth.
And for even more insights, tune in to Episode 53 of No Silver Spoons®, releasing on Monday, January 27, 2025. In that episode, I’ll dive deeper into these concepts and share personal stories of how I’ve helped dental offices just like yours overcome these hurdles.
The Three Biggest Challenges Dental Offices Face
1. Overburdening the Front Office
Your front office staff handles critical responsibilities: scheduling patients, managing communications, verifying insurance eligibility, and processing claims (If we are being honest there is so much more than that). When they’re overworked, mistakes happen—mistakes that can cost your practice time, money, and patient trust.
One of the biggest culprits? Insurance eligibility verification. It’s a time-consuming, detail-oriented process that often requires extensive back-and-forth with insurance companies. Unfortunately, many offices place this burden on their already busy front desk teams, leaving them little time to provide quality service to patients.
📌 Solution: Outsource eligibility verification to professionals. By partnering with companies like Dentistry Support®, your team gains hours of time back in their day. This ensures that insurance claims are processed accurately, patients have clarity on their coverage, and your front office can focus on enhancing the patient experience instead of being bogged down by paperwork.
2. Lack of Delegation
It’s a mindset that’s common among dental professionals: “If I don’t do it myself, it won’t be done right.” While this approach might feel like the safest option, it leads to burnout for you and missed opportunities for your team to step up.
📌 Solution: Start small. Delegate one task at a time—like patient follow-ups or billing—and trust your team to handle it. Outsourcing tasks like eligibility verification and billing can also alleviate the load on your in-house staff while ensuring the job is done by experts. Over time, you’ll find that letting go of control allows your practice to operate more efficiently and gives you more time to focus on leadership.
3. Outdated Systems and Processes
In today’s fast-paced world, running a dental office without clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and updated training is like driving a car without a GPS—you’re bound to get lost. A lack of structured processes not only leads to inconsistencies but also makes onboarding new employees more challenging.
📌 Solution: Implement SOPs for every aspect of your practice, from managing patient complaints to processing insurance claims. Ensure these procedures are updated regularly to reflect the latest industry standards and best practices. According to a report by the Harvard Business Review, businesses with structured onboarding processes see an 82% improvement in employee retention, which is crucial for creating a stable and efficient team.
How Eligibility Verification Can Transform Your Practice
If you’ve ever dealt with denied claims or patient frustration over unexpected bills, you know how critical eligibility verification is to your practice’s success. Yet, this task is often treated as an afterthought, delegated to front office staff who may not have the time or expertise to handle it effectively.
📌 Why Outsource? Outsourcing eligibility verification to experts like Dentistry Support® ensures accuracy and efficiency. Our team specializes in verifying patient benefits, identifying potential coverage issues before appointments, and reducing the risk of denied claims. This not only improves cash flow but also enhances patient satisfaction by setting clear expectations upfront.
Imagine how much smoother your operations would be if your front office didn’t have to spend hours on hold with insurance companies. By trusting experts with this critical task, you’re empowering your team to focus on building relationships with patients and delivering an exceptional experience.
The Power of Building Community Over Competition
Many dental practices fall into the trap of seeing other offices as competition, leading to a scarcity mindset that limits growth. But here’s the truth: your practice can’t serve every patient in your area—and that’s okay.
By shifting your focus from competition to collaboration, you create opportunities to grow through partnerships and referrals. For example, I once received a call from a competitor who was overwhelmed with business. Instead of seeing them as a threat, I partnered with them, and that relationship turned into a valuable source of new patients and growth for both of us.
📌 Takeaway: Focus on finding your niche and building a community of like-minded professionals. Whether it’s partnering with a dental billing company or networking with other local practices, collaboration often leads to opportunities you never expected.
Free Training: Building a Scalable Practice
If your goal is to scale your dental practice without burning out, here’s a step-by-step approach:
Outsource Non-Core Tasks: Free up your team’s time by outsourcing billing, eligibility verification, and other repetitive tasks to experts. This ensures critical work is done accurately while allowing your staff to focus on patient care.
Document Your Processes: Create clear SOPs for everything from appointment scheduling to handling patient complaints. Regularly update these documents to ensure they reflect current best practices.
Invest in Training: Provide consistent, ongoing education for your team. Remember, not everyone learns the same way. Offer a mix of written guides, videos, and hands-on training to meet different learning styles.
Delegate Effectively: Identify tasks that can be handled by your team and trust them to take ownership. This includes everything from marketing to patient follow-ups.
Leverage Technology: Use tools and software designed for dental offices, such as billing platforms and patient communication systems, to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
Build Relationships: Focus on community over competition by collaborating with other dental professionals, whether it’s through referral partnerships or sharing best practices.
Why Trusting the Experts Is Essential
Letting go of control isn’t easy, but it’s a necessary step if you want to scale your practice and maintain your sanity. Trusting experts—whether for eligibility verification, billing, or other specialized tasks—allows you to focus on what you do best: providing excellent care to your patients.
At Dentistry Support®, we’ve worked with hundreds of dental offices to help them streamline their operations, reduce errors, and improve cash flow. By outsourcing critical tasks to us, you’re not just saving time—you’re building a foundation for sustainable growth.
Tune In for More Insights
This free training is just the beginning. For even more strategies on scaling your dental practice, tune in to Episode 53 of No Silver Spoons® on Monday, January 27, 2025, at 6:00 AM MST. In this episode, I’ll share my journey as a business owner, the lessons I’ve learned, and the systems I’ve implemented to grow multiple companies successfully.
Let’s Connect
If you’re ready to take your practice to the next level, I’d love to support you. Whether you need help with dental billing, eligibility verification, or leadership training, I’m here to help.
Let’s build something incredible together.
Disclaimer:
To learn more about Sarah Beth Herman, the author of all free training content you can read her bio here. These materials are intended to provide helpful information to dentists and dental team members. They are in no way a substitute for actual professional advice based on your unique facts and circumstances. This content is not intended or offered, nor should it be taken, as legal or other professional advice. You should always consult with your own professional advisors (e.g. attorney, accountant, or insurance carrier). To the extent, Dentistry Support ®has included links to any third-party website (s), Dentistry Support ® intends no endorsement of their content and implies no affiliation with the organizations that provide their content. Further, Dentistry Support ® makes no representations or warranties about the information provided on those sites. You can view our privacy policy and terms and conditions by clicking those pages in the footer of our website.
To scale effectively and avoid burnout, it's essential to delegate. Entrusting specialized tasks like eligibility verification and billing to experts frees you to focus on what matters most: your patients.
does an excellent job highlighting the common obstacles dental practices face when scaling up, such as inefficient systems, staffing challenges, and a lack of streamlined processes.I liked the emphasis on understanding your practice’s data.
By addressing the challenges dental offices face, they can overcome the common barriers to scaling and achieve sustainable growth.
Focus on your best skilled niche so that it will not burden you. Those things you're not skilled of take time to practice.