When it comes to dental billing, there’s a myth that clean claims are about chance. Submit enough, and some will sail through while others get rejected. It’s just the nature of the game, right?
Wrong. Clean claims aren’t luck.
They’re the result of consistent, repeatable habits. The practices that get paid fastest aren’t the ones with the "luckiest" front desks. They have systems that make clean claims the default, not the exception.
The real cost of 'dirty' claims
Ashley Bond.
Every denied or delayed claim has a ripple effect, such as:
- Extra staff time on claim resubmission and follow-up
- Longer patient wait times for accurate balances
- Cash flow headaches that build over weeks and months
Even worse, a single missing attachment or typo can take hours to resolve -- time your team doesn’t have.
The consistency factor
Clean claims start with consistent habits. When the basics are done the same way, every day, the errors and oversights that cause denials all but disappear.
Here are the rhythms top-performing offices rely on:
- Daily discipline: Submitting claims, posting payments, and flagging problems as they happen. Don’t let today’s work become tomorrow’s backlog.
- Weekly reporting: Make it routine to run the same reports every week: aging, unsent claims, and credit balances. This consistency turns red flags into solvable problems before they snowball.
- Monthly reviews: Step back once a month to look at the big picture: your collection percentage, accounts receivable aging, and the top denial reasons. Use that data to tighten processes where they’re slipping.
- Defined roles: If no one owns a task, it doesn’t get done. Assign clear ownership for follow-up calls, National Electronic Attachments, or updating payer IDs.
- Claim status notes: Document every follow-up, including who called, when, and what happened next. That way, no claim gets stuck in limbo.
Why this matters
Without consistency, even the most skilled billers burn out chasing down preventable mistakes. With consistency, billing stops being reactive and becomes predictable.
It’s not luck. It’s discipline. And it’s the difference between chasing revenue and collecting it smoothly.
At Wisdom, we build the habits for you, including:
- Daily claim scrubbing before submission
- Weekly accounts receivable tracking and prioritized follow-up
- Transparent reporting that shows what’s slipping
With the right systems, your team doesn’t just submit more clean claims, they get more claims paid faster.
If you’re tired of feeling like clean claims are a coin toss, it’s time to shift your focus. Consistency protects both your revenue and your people.
Want the full playbook? Download "The ABCs of Dental Billing" -- your guide to building habits that make clean claims the rule, not the exception.
Ashley Bond is the co-founder and chief dental billing officer at Wisdom, a dental billing company. She previously founded Bond Dental Billing. Bond has a background deeply rooted in the dental industry. She worked alongside her father in his dental practice. Bond is passionate about helping dental practices thrive through innovative solutions and effective dental billing strategies.
The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.
