6 Tips for End-of-Year Dental Billing
by Penny Reed
As we approach the end of the year, our days in the dental office will grow increasingly stressful. An office manager’s job becomes overwhelming between last-minute patients, account reconciliation, and planning for 2025.
Here are some tips for closing out 2024 to help ease your burden.
1. Plan PPO Renegotiation
When billing insurance companies, maximizing your reimbursement is essential to maintain a healthy practice. If your practice is in-network with PPO plans, reviewing your contracted fee schedules annually is important.
At the end of the year, evaluate your current fees to determine if they should be higher. If you’re being underpaid, it’s best to plan renegotiations for the beginning of the new year.
While PPO negotiations can be highly beneficial for your practice, they can also be complex and time-consuming. To simplify the process, consider partnering with a PPO negotiation service like Unitas, to help you start the new year on the right foot.
2. Learn 2025 CDT Code Changes
CDT codes are a crucial part of dental billing and they are constantly evolving. Each year brings new updates, and 2025 will introduce 24 changes, including 10 new dental codes and 8 revisions.
It’s important to familiarize yourself with these updates before the new year begins.
With over 800 existing CDT codes, staying current can be challenging. To make things easier, consider using a coding manual, such as Dental Coding with Confidence from Practice Booster, which has already been updated for 2025.
3. Deposit All Payments
In a healthy dental practice, insurance payments should be arriving daily. Most insurance companies use EFT for payments, but some still send paper checks.
With multiple payments coming in every day, it can be easy to fall behind on processing them. Deposit all outstanding payments as soon as possible to end the year with a strong A/R.
If you’re struggling with deposits and reconciliations, consider a service like eAssist EFT & Deposit Reconciliation to ensure you don’t leave any money uncollected and continue to maintain a healthy cash flow.
4. Review Every Patient’s Account Ledger
After multiple visits throughout the year, patients’ account ledgers can accumulate numerous charges and payments. At the end of the year, it’s important to review these accounts and address any credits, refunds, or outstanding balances.
For patients with December appointments, apply any existing credits toward their visit. If there are no remaining 2024 appointments, it may be time to issue a refund. On the other hand, if a patient has an outstanding balance it might be time to send their account to collections.
Carefully review the account to determine if this is in your practice’s best interest. A Zero-dollar balance in all accounts is an ideal goal for the new year.
5. Bill All Claims
Dental claims should be billed daily, but as offices get busy—especially during the holidays—it can fall behind. Although this happens, all claims should be submitted by the end of the year.
Starting the new year with a clean slate means having all the previous year’s claims billed. The extra effort to push through these claims can make all the difference for your practice.
If you’re struggling with your dental billing, consider partnering with eAssist. Our Success Consultants are equipped to support practices of any size, ensuring your dental billing is handled efficiently.
6. Review This Year’s Performance and Prepare for Next Year
As the year closes, conducting a final assessment of your office’s overall performance is important. Take a close look at your financials to evaluate where your practice stands.
- How is your A/R?
- What does your aging claims report look like?
- Are your insurance collections and patient collections on track?
- Do you have any outstanding balances?
All of these areas should be reviewed with your practice owner. Any area with room for improvement should be a primary focus, ensuring your practice starts strong and is well-prepared for a healthy year.
The year-end in a dental practice can be both stressful and rewarding. Not only can it ensure that your office maximizes revenue, but it also sets the stage for a smooth start to the new year.
If the end-of-year is overwhelming, consider partnering with eAssist. Our Success Consultants are highly skilled dental billers who efficiently process your claims, ensuring they’re billed quickly and accurately. This leaves you free to focus on your patients and enjoy the holidays with less stress.
About the Author
Penny Reed
Penny Reed is the Chief Growth Officer at eAssist Dental Solutions, and the author of the book, Growing Your Dental Business.
Penny has over 30 years of experience as a speaker and dental business coach and has been designated a Leader in Dental Consulting by Dentistry Today from 2007 to the present. She is a certified “Behavioral Consultant” through the Institute for Motivational Living and a former Dale Carnegie Trainer.
Penny is the executive team support for the people services at eAssist, the nation’s leader in outsourced dental billing. She speaks at dental meetings about team coachability, effective revenue cycle management, and practice growth.
