Tag Archives: Leased Network Arrangements

Are you impacted by the Leased Network Arrangements contained in your Dental Plan contracts? Have you contracted with the major Dental Plans that are primarily network lease arrangements? Is the practice losing credibility with patients because you cannot determine how you will be paid?

Here are some of the indicators of your practice’s participation with Dental Leased Network Arrangements:

1. The practice never contracted directly with a dental plan but the claim is paid as in-network.
2. The primary plan will confirm benefit levels but the actual fees to be paid are based on another Dental Plan’s fee schedule.
3. Claims are paid at different fee levels or randomly paid as both in and out of network.
4. Participation status varies from doctor to doctor in the same practice.
5. Patients tell your front desk that the practice is listed on their Plan’s website and you do not recognize the plan.

The impact of joining the major plans is further complicated by Leased Network Arrangements contained in your participation agreement. We will explore some ways to eliminate participation or utilize the network leases to your advantage in our next post.

Let’s look at some strategies for dealing with leased network arrangements in your dental practice. Dental Network Lease Arrangements are allowed through the practice agreements with each of the Dental Plans. Just about every Dental Plan has the ability to put the practice into another Dental network. This causes confusion in your discussion of costs with patients and can reduce your claims payment levels.

Here are three strategies for dealing with leased network arrangements:

1. The “Addition by Subtraction” Strategy: The practice can actually increase reimbursements by strategically terminating dental contracts and utilizing a lease arrangement with higher fees.

2. The practice has the ability to decline participation with network lease arrangements that are not ideal for the practice.

3. Negotiate the leased network partner’s fee schedule and decline participation with the primary Dental Plan.

Do you need help dealing with leased network arrangements in your dental practice? We are here to help. Our team will develop a plan for reducing low reimbursements by accepting smarter and more profitable Insurance Plans. Our goal is to reduce the number of plans you contract with while maximizing your collections by this selective use of the Dental Plans in your practice. That’s what we call “Addition by Subtraction”.