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Running a Practice on Medicaid Dental
19 lessons in 6 modules, on running the office rather than on dentistry. You already know how to treat the patient. This is the part nobody teaches, which is how an office whose patients are on a state program gets paid, keeps a schedule and stays enrolled. Nothing needs a login. The course is supported by EHR1, which makes software for practices, and each lesson ends with one plainly marked offer from them.
About This Course
- Who it is for
- Dentists and office managers taking Medicaid
- What It Is Not
- Clinical training. No technique, no cases
- Start at
- Module one if you are deciding, module three if you are already open
- On specifics
- We name the body that sets each rule rather than quoting a number that changes
California's program is Medi-Cal Dental, which most people still call Denti-Cal. Medicaid dental varies more between states than almost any other benefit, so the lessons teach the shape that holds everywhere and tell you which authority to ask for the numbers where you are.
1 Deciding Whether to Do This at All
Whether the program fits the practice you have, and what you are actually signing up for.
- Should Your Practice Take Medi-Cal PatientsA plain look at the economics of Medicaid dental for a private practice, and how some offices make it work. Read it
- Fee for Service or Managed Care, and Why It Changes EverythingThe two ways a state pays a dental practice for the same patient, and how the choice changes your front desk, your cash flow and who you answer to. Read it
- Adults and Children Are Two Different BusinessesWhy children's dental coverage is steady across the country and adult coverage is not, and what that means for how you plan a practice around it. Read it
2 Getting Enrolled and Staying Enrolled
The paperwork that lets you bill, and the quiet lapses that stop payment months later.
- Enrolling as a Medi-Cal Dental ProviderWhat enrolling in Medi-Cal dental involves, what slows applications down, and what to sort out before you start. Read it
- Credentialing Without Losing a Month of ProductionHow to run dental credentialing and re-credentialing so a new associate can actually be paid for the work they do. Read it
- Staying Enrolled, and the Lapses That Stop PaymentEnrollment is not a one time event. What has to be kept current, what happens when it is not, and why the symptom shows up months after the cause. Read it
3 The Front Desk
Eligibility, scheduling and the appointment that does not arrive. Most money problems start here.
- Check Eligibility at Every Single VisitWhy Medicaid eligibility is a monthly fact rather than a standing one, and why checking it once is the most expensive habit a front desk can have. Read it
- Building a Schedule That Survives a Broken AppointmentBroken appointments are structurally higher in this population and mostly are not about motivation. How to build a day that absorbs them instead of one that breaks. Read it
- Working With an Interpreter Without Slowing the Day DownLanguage access is usually a program service you can arrange rather than a cost you carry. How to use it well, and why a family member is the wrong answer. Read it
4 Authorization and Getting Paid
Approval before the work, a clean claim after it, and what to do with the ones that come back.
- Prior Authorization Is the Skill the Practice Runs OnApproval before treatment is the step that decides whether work gets paid for. What a reviewer is actually looking at, and how to submit so it goes through the first time. Read it
- Getting Paid by Denti-Cal Without Losing a MonthHow to cut denials on Medi-Cal dental claims, which ones are worth appealing, and the front desk habits that decide both. Read it
- A Denial Is Almost Always a Document ProblemHow to read a denial, sort the ones worth reworking from the ones that are telling you something, and stop the same denial from arriving again next month. Read it
- Reading Your Own Aging ReportThe one report that tells you whether the practice is actually being paid, what the shape of it means, and the trap of judging a program practice by private practice benchmarks. Read it
5 Planning Inside a Benefit
Building a plan the program will cover, and what to do on the day it will not cover the right one.
- When the Right Treatment Is Not the Covered TreatmentWhat to do on the day the plan a patient needs and the plan the program will pay for are not the same, without either misleading the patient or quietly lowering your standard. Read it
- Case Presentation When the Patient Pays NothingEvery technique in the case acceptance literature assumes money is the obstacle. When it is not, the job changes completely, and most of the standard advice becomes noise. Read it
6 Running the Place
The numbers that mean something at these rates, the records that survive an audit, and the software underneath.
- The Numbers That Mean Something at These RatesWhich practice metrics still work when the fee schedule is set by somebody else, which ones actively mislead, and the short list worth watching weekly. Read it
- What a Dental Compliance Package Actually NeedsWhat is really in a dental compliance package, which parts a small practice can do itself, and where the paid bundles earn their money. Read it
- Documentation That Survives an AuditWhat a reviewer looks for when records are examined after the fact, and why good dentistry with thin notes is the case that goes badly. Read it
- Choosing Dental Software When Many Patients Are on Medi-CalWhat to test in dental practice software when a large share of your patients are on Medicaid dental, and the questions demos never answer. Read it