Dental Biller Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a dental biller. Feel free to use our dental biller job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a dental biller.
Who is a Dental Biller?
A Dental Biller is solely responsible for entering a patient’s information to pay for dental services; the job responsibilities of a dental biller are to receive payments from customers and contact a health insurance company for negotiation. Dental billers are also called Dental Coders. They issue an invoice and submit claims for services rendered by Dentists and Dental Specialists.
The dental billing processes are stipulated steps involved to receive payment from insurance companies and patients for services rendered by dentists. The dental billing process has a lot of steps but it can be broadly categorized into; patient billing and insurance claims processing. These processes have made it very easy for patients to pay for dental medical services.
Dental Medical Billing
This is the process of billing medical insurance care provided in your dental practice. There are times when dentists render services that medical care. For instance, a dentist can treat damaged teeth, gums, and jaw due as a result of accidents. Dentists also perform biopsies which is a medical treatment. Insurance claims are usually directed to medical insurance as primary instead of dental insurance. Here are a few instances in which you can file medical insurance at your dental practice:
- Oral surgery
- Trauma(broken tooth, broken teeth, broken jaw)
- Pathology( this is a situation when the dentist’s biopsies are needed to check for diseases inside of teeth, gums, and around the mouth)
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Dental Coding
This is the practice of using official CDT and/or ICD-10-CM procedures to report conditions and treatments your care team performs. The code CDT is Current Dental Terminology while ICD-10-CM is Classification of Diseases, Tooth Revision, Clinical Motivation. These codes are required for claim reimbursement to remain HIPAA compliant. As a dental biller; you have to focus when performing using these codes because when you improperly or inaccurately code a procedure, you have unintentionally committed fraud.
Dental Biller Job Description
Below are the dental biller job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a dental biller job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of a dental biller include the following:
- Collecting patient information
This can be done when a patient places a call to schedule a dental appointment. The dental biller can obtain relevant information from the patient such as; name, phone number, address, email address, contact preferences, date of birth, name of the subscriber’s employer or insurance plan, insurance carrier, carrier’s provider phone number, and insurance ID number. These are all the relevant information a dental biller needs to schedule an appointment for a patient. The dental biller can communicate back via a phone call to the patient about the consultation time.
- Authenticate the patient insurance coverage
After obtaining the patient’s personal and insurance information; you must verify the information by reaching out to the insurance company via a phone call. You can log in to the insurance portal to verify the information. This will give you a complete breakdown of their benefits and the state of the coverage.
- Recording dental treatment and code data
As the patient receives treatment on their daily appointment, an individual in the team records the necessary details in your clinical notes, and codes the procedures performed. An admin member usually ensures this is documented, reviewed, and electronically signed by a provider in your dental software. The best practice is a daily sign-off on the day sheet to always verify what happened in the dental chair is what is captured in your software and also on your patient ledger to be billed.
- Submitting and tracking claims & attachment
With the information captured on your software, you can then proceed to create a batch and submit your insurance claims. The claim will include the codes of the procedures performed, the entire patient’s insurance records, and any attachments needed. Attachments such as clinical notes, x-rays, periodontal chart narratives, primary EOBs, and photos can be included.
- Resolving problems on outstanding claims
After 30 days of submission and the claim has not been reimbursed; you will need to do a follow-up on it. This is called working the insurance aging report. Your biller gets a list of all outstanding claims, contacts the insurance company and ascertains why the claim was rejected, and then works to appeal the reimbursement. This is a very crucial stage where the dental biller’s expertise and efficiency if there is a high or low collection rate.
- Billing Patient
This depends on the revenue model you have chosen; you can bill the patient for the entire amount or you bill the patient after subtracting what the insurance benefits will cover. Patients’ billing allows you to collect the patient payment before they vacate the dental office and you can also request payment by mail or email later in the day. You can file the claim to be reimbursed by their insurance. Either way fully or collecting on patients’ accounts receivable is crucial because it can increase the organization’s revenue.
- Posting payments: if your insurance claims become accepted, the next step is to deposit the money to your bank account and finally post the payment to your practice management software. Doing this will make all your information to be properly documented and reported. It is very paramount for patients’ payments also need to be posted promptly so that the patient’s cash flow numbers can be accurate.
- Running key reports such as collections and account aging reports: once you are done with the payment; you are to take a recap and look at your billing activities are performing and how well they are collecting payment for your practice procedures. Through your dental software, you can be able to manage both net production and net collection report. You can also manage outstanding account & insurance aging reports that will show you a list of outstanding claims or patient balances you need to focus on.
- Ensuring that patient information remains confidential
Qualifications
- A high school diploma or equivalent
- Proven experience as a medical biller, preferably in dental practice
- Familiarity with CDT and ICD codes will be advantageous
- Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
- High-level interpersonal skills with a commitment to excellent customer service
- Ability to work with sensitive patient information while maintaining the confidentiality
- Ability to work during evenings and on Saturdays when needed
- Time-management skills and ability to meet deadlines
- Proficiency with software such as Dentrix, OpenDental, Eaglesoft, and Curve Dental
Essential Skills
A dental biller should possess the following skills and competencies to make his work efficient and they are:
- Paying attention to detail: sending claims repeatedly and going to insurance can be very difficult and if not done properly can result in a disaster. The job of a dental biller requires someone that pays great attention to detail and takes notice of small inaccuracies. This attention to detail is very paramount when sending claims and researching unpaid claims. If a claim is created by your office, then reviewed by a biller; the biller will likely notice the error on the claim and fix it before sending it to the insurance company. It takes less time to an fix inaccurate claim rather than review it later when it becomes unavoidably rejected.
- Problem-solving Skills:
In the course of your job as a dental biller; some claims will surely be denied and it is your responsibility to ensure that you win the appeal for the claim. A good dental biller must possess a problem-solving mindset; you must have a list of information appeals for each insurance company and also have appeal templates ready for submission. A great dental biller will fight with all his energy until they have run out of options to appeal a claim.
Problem-solving is not just about appeals when it comes to dental billing. Good problem-solving billers are also able to channel these skills for all unpaid and unprocessed claims. Good problem solvers also know the appropriate question to ask insurance companies, and how to be efficient at the same time. They utilize all the resources at their disposal to maximize their ability to get claims paid accurately, quickly, and effectively.
- Accuracy: dental billers must be accurate and for them to be accurate; they must know how to send an insurance claim across different dental softwareCurve Dental Inc and OpenDental. This will help them to rarely have mistakes or errors on the claims they send. In addition, they must also have good strategies they use to appeal denied claims. The billers will exercise patients when dealing with denied claims until the claim is paid.
- Good team players: this is a requisite skill dental billers must possess. They need to be patient with other colleagues when a challenge should occur and they must not apportion the blame to anyone but look for a solution. They need to have patients with team members or the office they work for to be able to be comfortable or adapt when a situation changes in the office. They should also be good team players, ready to work with others to get claims.
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills: they should know how to efficiently communicate with the dental team if they are outsourced billers or not. The billers must have the interest of the patient at heart and encourages the patient whenever a claim is denied. They must make sure that the patients and dentist are paid all the outstanding payments.
The biller must build an interpersonal relationship with patients so that they can keep patronizing the organization.
- Good time management: a good dental biller must know how to manage time judiciously. They must know the best time to schedule an appointment for a patient with a dentist, the time to submit claims. Post payments, and work on the aging report. They should also have the ability to maintain maturity and professionalism at work whether it is in an office setting or remote setting.
How to Become a Dental Biller
- Get the Paramount Information
Dental billers work with patients and insurance companies by processing claims and billing patients. Graduates out of high school can be employed as dental billers. A person that is interested in this scope of discipline can acquire a certificate in medical billing.
In addition, they can also learn coding that will train them on how to work in a dental office. To gain knowledge about dental billing; you may have to enroll in an internship.
- Meet the Education Criteria
The educational requirement for an individual who wants to become a dental biller is a high school diploma. Certification in medical billing and coding is also relevant to boosting your career.
- Enroll for Internship
Students that want to become dental billers must go through on-the-job training to acquire knowledge of procedural and diagnostic coding. They must also learn about principles guiding insurance and be knowledgeable in medical record keeping. The internship is usually at a practicing medical office. No employer wants to employ an amateur; employers of dental billers also seek those with experience in dental industry placement. The positions are dental assistant, clerical assistant in a dentist’s office, or other similar jobs.
- Acquire the Career Information
A career in dental billing requires an employee to spend the majority of his or her day on the computer making phone calls. Job responsibilities require collecting payment and verification of patient coverage eligibility.
In addition, dental billers are in charge of entering insurance claims into data into the computer.
- Obtain formal training program
Dental billers may find it very important to acquire formal training in the program. They need to acquire experience in the dental industry performing administrative and secretarial tasks. It is highly paramount that they must be able to translate dental procedures into codes. Dental billers mostly work in an office setting but they can also work from home.
Where Can a Dental Biller Work?
A dental biller works in a hospital in the dentist’s office. They can also work in a remote setting and attend to customers.
Dental Biller Salary Scale
In the United States, a dental biller’s salary ranges from $29,000 to $73,000 in a year. A dental biller can earn $13.69 to $24.97 per hour. The salary of a dental biller varies based on experience, education, location, and employer.