Attaching insurance to patients

You can enter a patient's dental and medical insurance information into his or her patient record.

Note: All required patient information (name, gender, birth date, and address) must be entered before you can attach insurance to a patient.

To attach insurance to a patient

1. Do one of the following:

   • On a patient's Overview page, in the Insurance box, click (or tap) Add.

     

   • On a patient's Insurance Information page, click (or tap) Add Plan.

     

   The options for entering insurance information become available.

   

2. Specify the Subscriber.

   Do one of the following:

   • If the patient is the subscriber for the plan that you are going to enter, leave his or her name in the Subscriber box.

   • If the patient is not the subscriber for the plan that you are going to enter, clear the name from the Subscriber box, begin typing part of the subscriber's name, continue typing as needed to narrow the results list, and then select a subscriber's name. The names of the insurance carrier and plan (or employer) that are attached to the selected subscriber appear automatically. (Skip step 3.)

3. If the patient is the subscriber, use the Plan Search box to search for and select an insurance plan.

   Do one of the following:

   • Select a plan by carrier, plan name, or group number:

     1. Select Search by Carrier/Plan/Employer.

     2. In the Plan Search box, begin typing a carrier name, an employer or a group plan name, or a group number. Continue typing as needed to narrow the results list. Then, select a plan.

     

   • Select a plan by patient:

     1. Select Search by Patient.

     2. In the Plan Search box, begin typing a patient name. Continue typing as needed to narrow the results list. Then, select the patient with the correct plan.

     

   • Add a new plan:

     1. If there are no results for the search criteria that you enter in the Plan Search box, click (or tap) Add New Carrier or Plan.

        

        The Add New Carrier or Plan dialog box appears.

     2. Do one of the following:

        • Select an insurance carrier from the list of carriers that have already been added to your practice database.

          

        • Add an insurance carrier to your organization's database:

          1. Click (or tap) Add Carrier.

             

             The Select carrier box becomes available.

             

          2. In the Select carrier box, begin typing the insurance carrier's name or payer ID. A list of supported insurance carriers appears. Continue typing as needed to narrow the search results.

             Important: Henry Schein One maintains a database of supported payers. The database is updated regularly, and a list of carriers and each carrier's details is sent to Dentrix Ascend. Selecting a carrier from the list of supported payers ensures that your practice has up-to-date information for that carrier. Also, using a supported payer allows you to add attachments to claims (however, the payer might not accept electronic attachments; in which case, you can mail the attachments separately from the claims or print and mail the claim and attachments together).

          3. Do one of the following:

             • If the correct insurance carrier is listed, click (or tap) it to populate the boxes with that carrier's information.

             • If the correct insurance carrier name is not listed, finish typing the full name. The name must start with a number or letter, not a special character).

               Then, press the Tab key, or click (or tap) outside the box. A mesage about adding unsupported payers appears.

               

               Click (or tap) Use New Carrier Name. The options for adding a new insurance carrier become available.

               

          4. Set up the other options as needed:

             • Phone number - The insurance carrier's main contact phone number and extension (if applicable).

             • Fax number - A fax number for the insurance carrier.

             • Website - The insurance carrier's website address. Do not include "http://" or "https://" at the beginning of the website address.

             Notes:

             • You cannot change the Carrier Name name after you click (or tap) Add.

             • You cannot change the insurance carrier's Payer ID. The ID comes from a database (maintained by Henry Schein One) of payers that accept electronic claims, or if the payer is not supported, the ID is 06126 (in which case, the clearinghouse will have to print and mail a hard copy of the claim to the payer).

             • You must save the insurance carrier's information to make the Available Procedures button available, so you can specify which procedures are available for posting to the records of patients who are covered by this carrier (when the "Carrier procedures" procedure filter is selected during posting).

          5. Click (or tap) Add.

        The options for adding a plan become available.

        

     3. Set up the following options:

        • Plan/Employer Name - The name of the employer or insurance plan.

        • Group # - The group plan number.

        • Claim mailing address - The address where claims for the insurance plan plan are sent.

          Note: ZIP Codes must be nine digits.

        • Phone - The insurance plan administrator's contact phone number and extension (if applicable).

        • Fax Number - The fax number of the insurance plan administrator.

        • Contact - The name of the insurance plan administrator.

        • Email - The insurance plan administrator's email address.

        • Benefit Renewal Month - The month that the insurance plan's benefits reset.

        • Source of Payment - The type of insurance company that will remit payment: CHAMPUS, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Commercial Insurance, Medicare Part B, or Medicaid.

          Note: Patients whose insurance plans have "Medicaid" as the Source of Payment will not receive billing statements, as it is illegal in many states to send billing statements to Medicaid patients.

        • Type - The plan covers dental or medical procedures.

        • PPO Contracted Fee Schedule - (Use for PPO plans only.) The schedule of allowed charges for the insurance plan. The selected fee schedule will be used to determine a patient's portion and the recommended write-off.

          Important: For each provider (and each location that is set up as a billing provider for claims) who participates with this insurance plan, in that provider's user account (or that location's settings), you must select this carrier in the Contracted With section.

        • CAP Plan Fees - (Use for capitation plans only.) The selected fee schedule will be used to determine a patient's co-pay and the recommended write-off.

        • Coverage Table - The coverage table for the plan. You can change the default deductible type and coverage percentage each procedure code range in the coverage table. Access to this dialog box is available only if a Plan/Employer Name has been entered.

          

          Note: You can also add exceptions, but currently, only the "not covered" exception in coverage tables is used by Dentrix Ascend to automatically calculate insurance estimates.

        • Benefits - The deductibles and benefits for the plan. You can enter the required deductible amounts for each deductible type and enter the maximum benefits allowed. Access to this dialog box is available only if a Plan/Employer Name, Address, City, State, and ZIP Code have been entered.

          

        • Note - A note that is specific to this insurance plan. You can enter text, such as information from an EOB or other document from the insurance carrier. Also, you can insert a date if needed. The note is accessible from all patient records that have this insurance plan attached.

     4. Click (or tap) Save.

4. Set up the rest of the options as needed, such as the subscriber ID, relation to the subscriber, coverage type, and coverage period.

   Set up the following options:

   • Subscriber ID # - The ID used to identify the subscriber of the insurance plan on claims that are submitted to the corresponding carrier. The subscriber ID might not be the same as the subscriber's Social Security number.

   • Release of Information - The subscriber authorizes the release of information to the practice. With this check box selected, "Signature on File" appears in box 36 on insurance claims. With this check box clear, box 36 is blank.

   • Assignment of Benefits - The subscriber authorizes payments from the carrier to go directly to the provider. With this check box selected, "Signature on File" appears in box 37 on insurance claims, and the carrier will send payments to your practice. With this check box clear, box 37 is blank, and the carrier will send payments to the subscriber.

   • Relation to Subscriber - For a subscriber, since he or she is the current patient, Self is selected automatically and cannot be changed. For a non-subscriber, select Spouse, Child, or Other.

   • Coverage Type - The coverage order of the plan (such as Primary or Secondary). The number of items that are available on the list depends on the number of plans that have already been set up for this patient. If there are no plans, only Primary is an option; if there is one plan, Primary and Secondary are options; if there are two plans, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary are options; and so on.

   • Coverage Period - The date range that coverage under the plan is valid for the subscriber and his or her dependents. In the Coverage Start and Coverage End boxes, enter the date when coverage started and, if known, when it will end. For a non-subscriber, you can specify an end date that is before or the same as that of the subscriber.

   • Eligibility - The patient's eligibility for coverage under the plan has been checked. If known, select the patient's eligibility status from the list: Unable to Verify, Eligible, or Ineligible. Then, enter today's date (or the date that eligibility was actually checked) in the Verification Date box.

     Note: Changing the eligibility status here affects the patient's eligibility status for his or her appointments on the Insurance Eligibility page and vice versa.

   • Note - Any notes regarding the insurance plan.

5. Click (or tap) Coverage Table to edit the coverage table for the insurance plan.

6. Click (or tap) Benefits to edit the deductibles and benefits for the insurance plan. Access to the deductibles and benefits is available only if a subscriber and a plan have been selected. When you attempt to access the deductibles and benefits, if you have not already saved the plan, a message appears and states that you must save the plan before you can access the deductibles and benefits. Click (or tap) Yes to save the plan and continue.

7. Click (or tap) Save.