MEDIUMBusinessTier 1

What revenue cycle management (RCM) actually means for a dental practice

SourceDentistryIQTier 1Hard News

By JoAnne Tanner, MBA,Christina Castle

Originally at dentistryiq.com

Summary & scoring by The Bell Brief (Dr. Jennifer Bell) using the Drill-Down Protocol (Drill-Down Score) — not the original publisher.

Why it matters for dental

Clear RCM processes directly affect collections, denial rates, and cash flow—making this essential reading for practice owners and billing staff who want to reduce write-offs and stabilize revenue.

Key points

  • JoAnne Tanner, MBA, outlines the end-to-end revenue cycle workflow, from patient intake and insurance verification through claims submission and patient collections.
  • The article flags common dental-specific pain points such as missing prior authorizations, incorrect CDT coding, and delayed EOB follow-up that can each add 30–45 days to A/R.
  • Actionable recommendations include weekly denial reviews, staff cross-training on payer portals, and automating eligibility checks to cut manual work by 20–30%.
  • Practices that implement the suggested RCM metrics (clean-claim rate, net collection percentage, days in A/R) can benchmark performance and set quarterly improvement targets.

Who should care

OwnerStaff

Read the original on DentistryIQ

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