Entering a new insurance plan

You can add dental insurance information to a patient's information in the Family File.

To enter a new insurance plan

1.   Select a patient in the Family File.

2.   In the Family File window, double-click the Insurance Information block.

The Insurance Information dialog box appears. Dentrix displays both the primary and secondary insurance information.

3.   Type the Depend Code and Card #.  

4.   The current patient is automatically entered as the Insurance Subscriber. To change the Insurance Subscriber, click the Insurance Subscriber search button, and then select a different subscriber or insured party.

5.   Click the Carrier search button.

The Select Primary Dental Insurance Plan dialog box appears.

Note: To make certain that the insurance company has not been entered previously, enter the first few letters of the carrier name in the Enter Carrier Name field. Matches for the letters you enter are displayed in the list.

6.   Click New.

The Dental Insurance Plan Information dialog box appears.

7.   Specify the following insurance information:

·        Enter a carrier name in the Carrier Name field.

·        Enter group plan name in the Group Plan field. If you do not have a group plan name, enter the employer name as the group plan name to assist you later on when you are assigning previously entered insurance carriers to patients.

·        In the Street Address, City, PV, and PC fields, enter the address where insurance claims should be mailed for this carrier.

·        In the Phone, Ext, and Contact fields, type a phone number and contact person for the insurance claims.

·        In the Group # field, type the Group Number for this plan.

·        In the Div field, type the Division for this plan.

·        Select the Claim Format that you want to use for this plan. You can print claim forms to blank paper or send them electronically.

·        The Alt Code field defaults to the CDA procedure codes. To use a different code system when printing insurance claims for this carrier, click the Alt Code search button.

The Select Alt Code dialog box appears, and you can make your selections from the available alternate codes.

·        Attach a fee schedule to this insurance carrier using the Fee Schedule search button. If a fee schedule is attached to the insurance carrier, it is used instead of the fee schedule attached to the patient’s primary provider. However if a fee schedule is selected for the patient, that fee schedule is used instead of the one attached to the insurance carrier. (This is dependent upon the specific claim form selected, as some claim forms are designed to print a specific fee schedule.)

·        Type the appropriate CDA Carrier ID for the insurance plan.

·        Select Do Not Bill to Dental Insurance to exclude the procedures from showing on the Procedures Not Attached to Insurance report.

8.   To return to the Insurance Information dialog box, click OK.

9.   Click Benefits/Coverage.

The Dental Insurance Benefits and Coverage dialog box appears. Enter deductible amounts, plan maximums, and modify coverage percentages. For more information on this dialog box, see Creating coverage tables.

10. If you want the words “Signature on File” to print on the insurance claims for this subscriber to authorize release of information, select Release of Information. To authorize payments directly to the provider, select Assignment of Benefits.

Note: If your office accepts assignment of benefits from insurance carriers, you must select Assignment of Benefits. If you do not select this option, insurance checks will be mailed to the subscriber, not to the office.

11. In the Subscriber ID field, enter the subscriber ID. The subscriber ID may be the Social Insurance Number of the subscriber.

12. To identify the patient’s relation to the subscriber, click Self, Spouse, Child, or Other.

13. To save the information and return to the Family File, click OK.