A pile of forms at the end of the week
Many patients have a health cash plan or dental insurance through work. After treatment they bring or email a claim form and ask the practice to fill in their part: dates, treatment, fees, the dentist's details and a signature. Each insurer's form is slightly different. Reception copies details from the practice management system by hand, then leaves the form for the dentist to sign.
Some forms get lost. Some come back from the insurer because a date was wrong. Patients ring to ask where their form is.
Patients also forget which treatment was on which date, and ask reception to include items from several visits on one form, which means more searching and more room for mistakes.
Why claim forms pile up
- Every insurer has its own form layout.
- Details must be copied by hand from the treatment record.
- The clinician's signature is needed, and they are busy.
- Forms arrive by post, email and in person, with no tracking.
- Many insurers accept an itemised receipt, but patients do not know that.
The cost of doing it by hand
Reception time on repetitive copying. Errors that mean the patient's claim is delayed, which they blame on the practice. Dentists signing forms in the gaps between patients. And a practice that cannot quickly say whether a patient's form was sent back.
Practices with many plan or insured patients feel this most at particular times, such as the start of a benefit year when patients rush to use their allowance. The pile of forms is largest exactly when the diary is busiest.
How we automate claim documents
- Patients request a claim document through a link on their receipt or on your website, choosing whether they need an itemised receipt or have their own insurer's form to upload.
- An itemised receipt is generated from your practice management system with the information insurers commonly ask for: patient details, dates, treatment descriptions, fees, amounts paid and practice details.
- Where the patient uploads a specific form, the fields are filled from the same data where the form layout is known, or the relevant details are laid out for reception to copy.
- Forms needing a signature are queued, and the clinician signs a batch electronically or on paper at a set time.
- Completed documents are sent to the patient and recorded, so reception can answer a question in seconds.
| Request type | How it is handled |
|---|---|
| Itemised receipt | Generated and sent automatically |
| Known insurer form | Fields filled, queued for signature |
| Unfamiliar form | Details laid out for reception to complete |
| Status question | Visible in the request log |
What an insurer will accept is between the patient and the insurer. We produce documents from your records; we do not advise on claims.
Less copying, fewer rejected claims
Many requests are satisfied by an itemised receipt with no staff time. Forms that need a clinician are signed in one sitting. Details come straight from the record, so errors drop. Patients can see their request has been dealt with.
Patients can also request receipts for a whole year in one go, which is a common request around benefit renewals, instead of reception printing them one at a time.
Is this a problem at your practice?
- Reception fills in insurer claim forms by hand.
- Dentists sign forms throughout the day.
- Patients ring to ask about their claim forms.
- Claims come back with errors in the practice's section.