What’s the deal with dental insurance?
Once a practice establishes interest in you, the next step is for you to vet the practice. How do you do that? You can start by finding out the dental insurance accepted by the practice. This can give a glimpse into the office fee schedule. In a where you are paid a percentage for your work, a fee-for-service practice is going to be optimal.
The fee schedules of fee-for-service practices are generally much higher and set by what the competition charges in the area. These offices are also more likely to be higher-end and equipped with digital technology. Though this may be ideal from a monetary standpoint, it is probably not ideal as a first job. In other words, when patients are paying thousands of dollars out of pocket, mistakes come at a higher cost.
When an office chooses to accept insurance, and the provider agrees to be “in-network” for the insurance, this means they accept the fees that the insurance pays for the procedures. These fees vary; one insurance can reimburse $800 for a #30 crown, another insurance can reimburse $1200. The more “premium” insurances that the office accepts, the better off you’re going to be throughout your associateship if your compensation structure is based on collection.