PRACTICE OPERATIONS
The dental billing handoff checklist
Before you outsource a single claim, make the handoff clear. These eight questions help a practice and a billing partner start with the same expectations.
1. What work changes hands?
List the tasks being transferred and the tasks your office will keep. Separate verification, submissions, posting, follow-up, patient statements, and historical cleanup.
2. What systems will be used?
Confirm the practice management software, clearinghouse, payer portals, and approved communication tools. Test the access method before promising compatibility.
3. What happens before data access?
Complete applicable agreements and establish approved secure channels, individual accounts, permissions, and the process for handling incidents. Do not use a public contact form to send patient information.
4. What is the starting position?
Agree a snapshot date and report definitions. Keep insurance and patient A/R separate and identify unposted remittances, unresolved rejections, and existing denials.
5. Who makes the decisions?
Name the people who approve clinical narratives, coding questions, write-offs, adjustments, refunds, and disputed patient balances.
6. When will work move?
Agree realistic targets, cutoffs, response expectations, escalation rules, and coverage. Flag filing-limit concerns promptly rather than waiting for a routine meeting.
7. What will the reports explain?
Show the opening workload, actions completed, payer responses, cash received, adjustments, and unresolved decisions. Call counts alone do not explain progress.
8. How will continuity be protected?
Agree coverage, notice terms, access removal, return of information, and an exit handoff. A good transition plan considers both the beginning and the end.
General operational information, not payer-specific coding instruction, clinical advice, or legal advice. Your practice’s payer rules and circumstances control the next action.
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A practical conversation. A clear next step.