Automated Insurance Verification Can Improve Patient Satisfaction (and Revenue)

There are plenty of funny and punny wordplays around dentistry that you can sink your teeth into for a quick smile (Yes, groan.) But, clearly, few of them get at the heart of what truly makes your patients smile, or keeps them satisfied. Patient satisfaction is a key component when it comes to assessing the overall health of your dental practice. Patient satisfaction is about quality care as much as it is about other factors. Thankfully, most of those are in your control with a few smart choices, including choosing automated insurance verification.

Quick Links

• What is Patient Satisfaction?
• What Impacts Patient Satisfaction?
• How Automated Insurance Verification Can Improve Patient Satisfaction
• How Patient Satisfaction Can Improve Revenue

What is Patient Satisfaction?

The formal concept of patient satisfaction has been around and being measured for about 40 years now. Initially, it was designed as a way to gather feedback from patients regarding the level of care they received from a healthcare provider.

As such, patient satisfaction is a marker of how happy your patients are with the care they receive from your dental practice. This can mean whether your team met, exceeded, or fell short of patient expectations.

There are many good indicators of patient satisfaction, from positive reviews and direct feedback to new patient referrals. Keeping tabs on patient satisfaction can be helpful when determining where your practice needs improvement. However, there are any number of variables that can impact this “score.”

What Impacts Patient Satisfaction?

One of the toughest parts of measuring patient satisfaction is understanding which contributing factors are truly under your control. In other words, sometimes how happy a patient is may not be an exclusive result of the quality of care you provided. 

These factors are related to quality of care you provide and directly affect patient satisfaction:

• Communication
• Scheduling
• Staff friendliness/attitude
• Time spent with patients
• Technology
• Cleanliness/Appearance of office and staff
• And, in some cases, care provided and patient outcomes

These are factors over which you have a good amount of control and where protocols and procedures can be put in place to improve patient perception and experience.

However, there are additional factors that impact patient satisfaction, some of which you can mitigate and others where you have very limited locus of control.

• Patient Outcomes- It’s important to remember that you can only do what you can. Failure to follow/continue at home efforts to mitigate conditions is only within the patient’s control. Regardless, it can impact overall outcome, and ultimately patient satisfaction.
• Costs- Whether it’s an unplanned procedure, a shortfall in insurance or simply something that isn’t covered, patients who are caught off guard by an unexpected cost can have lower patient satisfaction scores.
• Convenience- Is it difficult to get to your office? Limited parking? How convenient it is for patients to actually get to your dental practice can have a huge impact on patient satisfaction.
• Patient Expectations- Some may come to your office with very high hopes, but due to other aggravating factors, you just can’t deliver what they expect.

While some of those issues may be out of your control, communication around expectations, aftercare, outcomes, and costs can help alleviate some of those frustrations and improve your patient satisfaction scores.

How Automated Insurance Verification Can Improve Patient Satisfaction

One of the biggest factors that can impact patient satisfaction is cost of care. Thankfully, this is one area where you can really help. Experts suggest that, across healthcare organizations, price transparency is vital. Research has revealed that over 90% of patients report billing and payments have the potential to really shape their experience with your dental practice.

That means that, as a practice manager or dentist, determining the best way to be clear and transparent about the costs patients will incur for treatments and procedures is a crucial part of your practice management.

One mechanism you have complete control over is communication. Preparing and planning a dental treatment plan for your patients is a great way to ensure they not only know what their treatment goals are but also how those procedures will be scheduled. This can be even more important when it comes to budgeting for much needed care that isn’t covered or is only partially covered by insurance.

That brings us to the second opportunity you have at your disposal. With the right automated dental insurance verification software, you, and your patients, can know well ahead of time what’s covered and what costs your patient will incur.

Under normal circumstances, your administrative staff would have to spend countless hours mapping out treatment plans and matching them to benefits, especially if there are benefits or insurance changes. However, with iCoreVerify, the automated dental insurance verification software from iCoreConnect, you have all of that information at your fingertips.

Not only will you be able to see, instantly, whether a patient has an existing treatment plan, but you’ll also have vital information regarding their coverage. This way, as you schedule the next treatment or procedure in their plan, you can review the coverage and costs and prevent any confusion or surprises later.

Not only are you removing one potential patient satisfaction obstacle, but you’re also improving communication and scheduling, boosting your patient satisfaction score even more.

How Patient Satisfaction Can Improve Revenue

And, now that you have satisfied patients, you can reap the additional rewards that brings. More specifically, not only does automated insurance verification boost your revenue, but so do satisfied patients. 

First, let’s take a brief look at the revenue-boosting power of insurance verification software. Not only does this free up your staff and other resources from time-consuming callbacks and insurance denials, but your ability to schedule and leverage coverage (because you can see those opportunities) means your practice can capitalize on them while improving patient care. So, not only are you saving money on overhead, denials, and missed treatment opportunities, but you’re also enhancing the patient experience.

In addition to keeping a full schedule, you’ll also have satisfied patients in the community leaving reviews and passing on, via word of mouth, the positive experiences they’re having with your dental practice. As most dental practices know, monitoring patient metrics, such as patient retention and new patient numbers, can be a very strong indicator of practice health.

It’s pretty simple: more returning patients, and new patients you earn through patient referrals, means more revenue for your practice. Boosting patient satisfaction scores, for that reason, is a good way to boost practice revenue.

If you’re trying to figure out how you can boost patient satisfaction while also improving your efficiency and increasing revenue, then automated insurance verification software may be the answer. From decreased denials to transparent billing and communications, your relationship with patients and insurers can improve. Book a demo of iCoreConnect’s iCoreVerify automated insurance verification software and let us show you how to transform revenue growth and patient satisfaction.