1A: PayDent is a new alternative to dental insurance that offers numerous benefits to both dental care providers and patients, including:
- Eliminates all insurance hassles — there are no claims or rejections, and all procedures are covered;
- Gives dentists fair compensation for the work they perform — the equivalent of a major dental insurance company’s premier in-network plan;
- Offers patients fair pricing — 15% off the American Dental Association’s national average fees; and
- Provides patients with a dental care savings account, enabling them to accumulate funds to pay for their dental treatments.
Other benefits to dental care providers include that it:
- Exclusively enables dental care providers and their patients to determine treatments, without input from third parties, so dental care providers can recommend the best possible treatment and not the least expensive alternate treatment.
- Informs dental care providers immediately and prior to treatment if sufficient funds are available in patient’s account to cover the cost of the treatment.
- Pays dental care providers in full when they render services; payments from insurance can take months.
- Covers every dental procedure, including elective, cosmetic, preventive, specialty and preferred procedures.
- Includes patient profiles with helpful insights into patients and their special needs.
In addition, PayDent does not conflict with other plans that dental care providers might accept in their offices. It is primarily designed for patients who don’t have insurance, although patients with insurance can use PayDent and might find it to be a better value!
2A: PayDent makes dental care attainable, affordable and hassle free for patients, their spouses, their children and their parents. With PayDent:
- Patients get dental treatments from participating dental care professionals at 15% less than American Dental Association national average rates, so they know they’re getting a fair price for dental treatment.
- All dental procedures are covered at 100% with no annual limits.
- Patients’ funds are never lost at the end of the year, as they often are with many health savings programs.
- All of the patient’s money is used for their dental care; nothing is deducted for fees.
- All dental care providers are screened to ensure they meet the highest standards.
- Their funds can be shared with a spouse, children or parents.
- Dental care becomes affordable for retirees on fixed incomes, since Medicare generally does not cover dentistry.
3A: Yes, dental care providers have to sign a contract agreeing to our price list and our terms and conditions, and acknowledging our privacy policy.
4A: There is no minimum time commitment for being a PayDent dental care provider.
5A: No, there is no fee for dental care providers to sign up with PayDent.
6A: No, there are no annual fees.
7A: Dental care providers agree to charge patients per the PayDent fee schedule, which is 20% less than the ADA national average price list, and includes some items dental care providers have requested, such a PPE fee during the pandemic. The fee schedule is available in the PayDent app at all times, and it is updated every other year, following ADA policy.
8A: PayDent dental care providers are required to charge fees listed on the PayDent fee schedule. This fee schedule is based on a 20% discount from fees listed in the ADA Survey of Dental Fees and fees established by PayDent Advisory Board dental care providers for services not included in the ADA Survey but which are included in the ADA’s CDT code book. PayDent welcomes input from participating providers for opinions about a fee for a specific service not included in the ADA Survey.
9A: PayDent covers all dental services that the dental care provider deems appropriate. PayDent does not dictate which services are covered, so any treatments that a patient and dental care provider agree on are covered, including elective, cosmetic, preventive, specialty and preferred procedures.
10A: When you enter the treatment procedures into the PayDent app, the app will check the patient's account and advise you if the patient has sufficient funds in the account to cover the cost of the treatment.
11A: If the account contains insufficient funds, the patient can add money to the account instantly through the app with a credit or debit card, or they can delay the treatment until they deposit the necessary funds in their PayDent account.
12A: Yes. PayDent covers all dental services, including elective, cosmetic, preventive, specialty and preferred procedures.
13A: We encourage patients to inform their dental care providers that they have PayDent when they schedule their appointments.
14A: To protect patient data under the HIPAA laws, we assign each patient a 10-digit identification number. When a patient shares that identification number a dental care provider, they are agreeing to share their data. At that point, the dental care provider can look up the patient’s account in the PayDent app and verify the patient’s account funds, and access the patient’s treatment history and transaction history with that dental care provider. Please note that HIPAA laws still apply to the dental care provider regarding the patient’s information.
15A: Yes, PayDent asks dental care providers to charge 20% less than the ADA national average pricing survey.
16A: At 80% of the ADA price list, the payment you will collect will likely be higher than in-network pricing under most insurance plans, so you may earn more that way.
In addition, the cost of administering PayDent is much lower than the costs of administering insurance. There are no preapprovals or rejected claims and no procedures that are not covered. For every patient that uses PayDent, your back office staff will have much less work to do, because they won’t have to fight with an insurance company for payment — or worse, have a claim rejected.
If you operate a specialized practice and normally charge much more than the ADA survey prices, you can bill patients directly for the difference between your fee and the 80% of the ADA pricing that PayDent pays.
I you are not a PayDent provider and a patient wants to use funds from their PayDent account to pay you for their treatment, PayDent can send a check to you at the patient’s request. Simply ask your patient to contact PayDent customer service.
17A: As soon as treatment is complete and while the patient is still in the operatory, you can present the patient with a phone or tablet running the PayDent app. It will ask for the patient’s signature to confirm that treatment is complete. This will send a request for payment to PayDent. Money will be transferred via ACH directly to your account as quickly as possible — sometimes within minutes, but always within five business days.
18A: When you enter the patient’s treatment into the app, the app will automatically check the patient’s account balance to ensure there is enough to cover the entire cost of the treatment. At that point, you can place a hold on the funds for that treatment until it can be completed, even if the full treatment requires several visits.
19A: In most cases, you will receive payment from PayDent within minutes after the patient signs to confirm their treatment is complete. Occasionally, it may take up to five business days.
20A: A single account can be used to pay for treatments for an entire family — even extended family. The dental care provider can simply charge the treatment to the appropriate account. While the PayDent treatment history will show the treatment in the account holder’s account, the dental care provider must maintain separate treatment records for each patient.
21A: No, you don’t. PayDent transfers funds directly to your account via ACH. All we need is your bank routing and account numbers.
22A: PayDent has a very simple contract for providers to sign.
23A: The normal treatment guarantee that your practice provides to regular patients will be sufficient.
24A: Because dental insurance uses a different fee schedule than PayDent, the two cannot be integrated automatically. A patient who is using their dental insurance to pay for their treatment can request that PayDent pay any dental care provider at any time for up to 95% of the balance of the patient’s PayDent account.
25A: Dental care providers provide the patient ratings.
26A: After each treatment is complete, the dental care provider will be asked to rate their experience with the patient. The process is intended to be similar to the system that ride-sharing apps like Uber employ. To comply with HIPAA regulations, PayDent dental care providers may rate patients only on items such as punctuality, no-shows, pleasantness, respectfulness and their overall experience with the patient.
27A: We believe that knowing there is a rating system will improve the provider-patient relationship.
28A: Considering the many confusing plans and conditions that insurance companies impose on dental care providers, in many cases between 30% and 40% of each treatment dollar on average goes to the insurance companies. To collect this money from the insurance company, the dental care provider’s back office must expend significant effort. This adds cost. In many cases, claims are rejected or adjusted downward. With PayDent, if the patient and provider agree on a treatment, it will be paid for.
29A: To contact customer service at PayDent, send an email to teampaydent@paydent.com or call 312-505-3636.
30A: Customer support is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time.
31A: You can leave the program at any time, however, you have an ethical obligation to complete dental services you have begun and intend to be paid for. You can stop taking new PayDent patients at any time.
32A: PayDent will include participating dental care providers in the map and search functions in the PayDent app. When a patient is seeking a participating dental care provider, they can search by state, city or ZIP code.
PayDent will also provide dental practices with PayDent collateral materials to have in their offices, such as brochures and stickers with QR codes that allow patients to point their camera at the code to go directly to the PayDent website for more information and to register.