Episode 772: Dentists’ Most Common Billing Pitfalls

billing dental billig Dec 14, 2023

 Kiera is joined by dental billing expert Shasta Clark, of Paragon Dental Solutions. They talk about how billing is one of dentists’ biggest traps, and common pitfalls to keep an eye out for, including… 

  • Inaccuracies with dual insurances

  • The only times to perform write-offs without in-depth research

  • Benefits of outsourcing billing

  • Membership plans and billing insurance

  • And more

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.662)

Hello, Denali team listeners. This is Kira and you guys, I'm so excited to have an incredible guest on the podcast today. She's amazing. And this is someone we have like kind of a funny history because we both worked for the same office. I consulted them, she worked in their billing.

 

Shasta Clark (00:00.953)

Thank you.

 

Kiera Dent (00:17.734)

We just missed each other and now here we are talking. She's got an incredible company and you guys know, if there's anyone I love to get on the podcast, it's all things billing. So we have Shasta with Paragon. She is truly an incredible person. I refer to her company constantly. Shasta, welcome to the show. How are you today?

 

Shasta Clark (00:35.853)

I am great. Thanks for having me.

 

Kiera Dent (00:37.83)

Oh my gosh, of course. So guys, Shasta and I, like I mentioned, there's a practice in Florida. She worked there as an employee. I came in as a consultant right after she left. We literally were like ships in the night, just missed each other. And so it's so fun. I heard great things about her in the practice. They would always say, oh, when Shasta was here, our billing was amazing. And then Shasta went off and built her own company, AKA Paragon.

 

And now I will text her and I will email her and ask her for questions about clients. So Shasta, how did you even get this like obsession with billing? Like I'm curious, like how did you go from Shasta at a dental practice to Shasta of Paragon? How did you do that?

 

Shasta Clark (01:15.797)

Yeah, absolutely. So I worked for a practice that was one doctor fresh out of school and one office manager up front and she hired me because I'm bilingual. But I knew nothing about dental whatsoever. And the day after I started the office manager quit. So Exactly, exactly. And the dentist, of course, did not

 

Kiera Dent (01:35.383)

Oh, welcome to dentistry.

 

Shasta Clark (01:41.401)

have any experience in the front office. And she was just like, here you go. This is yours now. So I had to dive in and figure it out. I'm a researcher and Google became my right hand man. And I just really dove into it and being able to see how quickly I was able to affect change in the areas that was struggling in that practice. I eventually ventured out into another practice who the owner had to take out a second mortgage.

 

to pay his payroll because the aging was so far behind. And eventually, through trial and error, I was able to recognize the change that I could affect in working through the billing effectively, helping with collections and overall revenue. And I just dreamed of being able to do that on a much larger scale versus just one individual office at a time.

 

Kiera Dent (02:36.634)

Mm hmm. Well, I love billers because Shasta I don't I don't love billing. That's not my jam. That's not my favorite thing. I don't enjoy it as much. Did I learn it because I needed to yes and do I enjoy collecting money and seeing collections go up? Yes. But I wanted to just riff with you because Shasta is Paragon is an outsource billing company. Amazing. Like I remember I had someone in Michigan. I don't know if you remember this conversation. And they were telling me that there were these like certain types of write offs.

 

Shasta Clark (02:38.307)

Thanks for watching.

 

Kiera Dent (03:03.37)

and I thought they were full of baloney. Like I literally was like, that sounds ludicrous. We actually need to do this. And so I just messaged Shasta and I was like, hey, have you heard of this? Cause this seems so weird. And you're like, actually, yes, they are correct. And I'm like, I was mind blown. I was totally mind blown cause it seemed absolute ludicrous. But that's the thing that I think that's really cool about you is you know so many different practices. You work across the nation, but with that you probably start to see pitfalls. And I think one of the biggest, I don't know,

 

Shasta Clark (03:16.288)

Hehehehe

 

Kiera Dent (03:31.054)

traps that dentists fall into is that you don't know billing. Like you know how to do the dentistry. I worked at a dental college and you learn to prep teeth. You learn to make these teeth look amazing, but you don't know how to get paid for said work. And so you hope and pray these girls up front or these team members up front know how to collect your money for you. And to me, that feels terrifying. Like

 

Shasta Clark (03:36.942)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (03:51.698)

Okay, I'm gonna go do the work, but I don't know if I'll get paid for it. Like, let's hope fingers crossed. Like let's hope insurance covers. Let's hope the patients pay. Let's hope they know how to read an EOB. Like, oh, the like common problem of like, well, insurance just said I'm supposed to write that off. And I'm like, Oh, well, that's not necessarily true. Like, let's take a look at that. Um, so let's just kind of riffed on today, Shasta on like, what are some of the things that dentists

 

Shasta Clark (04:10.393)

Absolutely.

 

Kiera Dent (04:16.182)

should be aware of with billing or some of the trends you see across the nation that really are just like those pitfalls because you and I see it that there's the same post constantly there's the same questions being asked constantly. So like let's just kind of hit some of those highlights that you feel would be beneficial for today.

 

Shasta Clark (04:31.873)

Yeah, great, absolutely. So when I am doing a practice analysis, typically when a client comes to us and they say, hey, we wanna outsource, my first question is, let's make sure you need to outsource. So I do a dive into their claims and the very first report I pull is for buildups, specifically with Cigna and Emeritus. This is typically, we find a huge loss in the practice when it comes to buildups.

 

Kiera Dent (04:57.456)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (04:57.473)

Um, Cigna pays on seat date. And so when the claim comes back, if the Crown and buildup is built on the exact same day, then the claim will say that the buildup is inclusive to the Crown. And they make you write off the full amount, no charge to the patient buildup was done for free. Um, more often than not, I pulled a report and I'll pull it for the past year. And I will find every single time that buildup has been written off. In reality, they just need a seat date. They'll process and pay for the buildup.

 

So that's an area where as you were saying it, the EOB will say you have to write this off. In reality, you do not. It just needs a little bit of elbow grease, you know, a little bit of knowledge based on how we can force insurance to pay their responsibility to this claim. Another really big area is going to be dual insurance. I am so passionate about dual insurance. I actually have a free calculator on our website that...

 

Kiera Dent (05:33.422)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (05:53.025)

can go to and use to make sure they are maximizing dual insurance in the office. Even for PPO providers, you can get up to UCR fees when the patient has two insurances. And typically when I'm doing the analysis, I will find that dual insurance is being utilized inaccurately to where either write-offs are creating a credit to the patient and we actually see the patient getting paid to come to the dentist.

 

or secondary is not being billed at all, leaving the provider only collecting that contractual rate. So those are just a couple of areas where really understanding the ins and outs of how policies work and what the insurance should be held liable to pay.

 

Kiera Dent (06:18.76)

Yes.

 

Kiera Dent (06:37.63)

Well, I love that you just pivoted that of like the insurance being held liable to paying this because I think we always play the game of like, I need to make sure I'm playing by their rules that we're doing everything we're supposed to. So we're not liable to the insurance versus realizing like they also need to pay us what they're responsible for doing too. So Jocelyn, how do you learn these things? Like, how do you, like, that's impressive because buildups constantly are written off all the time. They're like, nope, Kira, they're not included. Like, how did you even find that little hidden gem Easter egg within their

 

jargon. Like I think that that's where people get lost on billing and it feels like we are hunting for Easter eggs that don't exist. And so how do you find that? Like, where do you recommend people go to research to find out? Or is it like, if it says to write this off, you're going to do some digging before you actually write the money off.

 

Shasta Clark (07:24.301)

The only time we ever do an actual write-off is what, without digging, is what we call a true denial, a non-covered service, frequency limitation, and even though sometimes we dig into them because insurance does make errors, maximum's met. Any type of downgrade, bundle, inclusivity, or necessity, we are going to dig into the contract and research that it is a valid denial and insurance isn't breaking their own rules.

 

Post COVID, we're in a completely different world when it comes to insurance. And we see insurance companies using all type of tactics to stall payment. And the denials are, I mean, sometimes I just laugh when I get them, but truly it is they are dependent on, if you think, if you have 10 dental offices submitting claim and only one of those team members, one office team member is really digging into no.

 

Kiera Dent (08:06.926)

Thanks for watching!

 

Shasta Clark (08:19.489)

You actually do need to pay this and nine aren't. Nine are just getting away with those denials. Imagine how much money insurance companies are saving. So really it just comes down to if it's not a true denial, the few things that I listed before, researching, reading through the contract, you can quickly Google Delta Dental Contract Clause on core buildup.

 

Kiera Dent (08:27.956)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (08:45.065)

and you are going to get a ton of information on what the exact clause is, and we will use those. We will say in your clause, page, et cetera, paragraph, line, item, and send their clause directly back to them and are successful. A really good example of this is going to be, one time we had a downgrade. A patient had an implant on a back tooth and they downgraded it to a partial. And the downgrade said that, oh my goodness.

 

Kiera Dent (09:00.322)

Wow.

 

Shasta Clark (09:14.277)

If anybody has air quads, you know the struggle. So insurance said that they were downgrading to the least costly treatment that gave the patient the same quality of life. Well, you use these teeth to chew, so a partial is not the same quality of life as an implant. And we were able to submit an appeal on that, explaining that the patient would not get the same quality of life. You wouldn't be able to eat the same types of food.

 

Kiera Dent (09:17.051)

You're good. You're totally fine.

 

Thank you.

 

Kiera Dent (09:28.846)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (09:42.137)

and we won that appeal and the implant was paid. But most people who are working billing would take that as face value. This is a clause, there's absolutely no way they're going to pay for it. And so just digging in, doing a little bit more research, coming up with some creative ways of appealing these items and at least giving it an attempt. And worst case, you tried and you're still in the same place you were before you tried.

 

Kiera Dent (10:08.694)

So Shasa on that, I think some people would say, well, I wanna get the money back, but at the same time, like, that's gonna cost my team so much more time to work on these, to figure it out, versus just like moving it along. Like, how long do we spend on a claim? How long do we do this? Of course, for me, I'm like, yes, it'll take time initially, but then once you've learned the clause, you become a lot faster. So what's your take? What's your response to that of, yes, it's time, yes, it's elbow grease, yes, it is figuring it out and digging into that, but like,

 

Maybe, I don't know if you have any numbers of stats of like, we were able to add this much more money into a practice pocket that might help us realize like, maybe it is worth the time, because I do think billers can sometimes sit there and like I call it like the like will of death on claims. Like they, it just feels like they're not actually getting through the claims. So it's this balance of spending enough time, but not too much time. Any thoughts around that?

 

Shasta Clark (11:00.641)

Yeah, one I think that's the beauty of outsourcing because then your team can just focus on patient care and let us deal with that nitty-gritty of the time And if depending on the company you're using however much time we spend specifically with paragon, it's not going to cost you more money We only invoice on what we collect so we want to make sure we're collecting as much as possible We want to fight those claims. So specifically for us we will appeal

 

Kiera Dent (11:03.71)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (11:27.501)

three to four times depending on the specific insurance plan. And if need be, we will go all the way to the insurance commissioner to hold the patient, the insurance responsible. But we again, are really fighting for that dollar. Now in office, I understand if you have your in office team, that's probably not possible paying an hourly wage. Is it worth it for the return there? I would say, I think it's really going to depend on.

 

how the outcome is going to be for the patient. What is the patient responsibility going to be if you're not fighting on this claim? And that would give me more guidance on how far I do wanna take this fight. For things that are downgrades like the one that I just had an example, those are a lot harder to fight. Timely filing as well is another one that's really hard to fight.

 

we fight them as far as we possibly can in office. I would be a little bit more reluctant to go that far with it. But then the other ones like core buildups and claims for necessity, we have a motto, insurance does not get to diagnose. That is only the treating provider's job. So anything denied for necessity, I suggest taking all the way to the insurance commissioner. And the biggest reason that I have this stance is because

 

Kiera Dent (12:32.548)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (12:44.029)

Insurance is able to get away with the type of denials that are happening because they're not held accountable to the benefits And the only real way to enact change is for their time being spent on denials that are overturned Becoming more than the money that they are saving. So the more that we fight back The more they are going to see that this tactic is not working. They're spending

 

Kiera Dent (12:51.122)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (13:05.73)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (13:11.981)

more money paying their team members to deny these claims than the denials are actually saving the money and the less they are going to be apt to continue that type of behavior with claims. So huge advocate for pushing back as much as you possibly can and maybe on the little bit more of creative appeals, maybe on those, reserve your time a little more there.

 

Kiera Dent (13:23.726)

Wow.

 

Kiera Dent (13:35.647)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (13:39.522)

That's super interesting and this is why I am fascinated by you and by Paragon because I don't think a lot of people go to that. I don't think a lot of people think in those terms like that is a shift of perspective for me. Like let's hold them responsible to their contracts. It's not just the other way around. I think we're all so concerned about a piety by it and like what if they come audit us. So Shasta, can you talk to me about like what really happens like

 

what really happens, what are some of the big no-nos where we would get audited on? Because I think that's what people are so scared of. I don't want to raise flags, I don't want to alert them to anything. So what are any of those really big no-nos that people should not be doing in practice when it comes to billing?

 

Shasta Clark (14:18.329)

There's so many, but the ones that I see quite often are going to be with treating providers. So a lot of times we'll come into our practice and they have a brand new provider who they haven't completely credentialed yet. This provider is seeing patients and they're submitting claims underneath the owner provider. So anytime that you submit a claim to insurance, exactly what your chart note says, treating provider procedures completed should be exactly what is on your claim.

 

And what happens is it goes out underneath the treating provider. Treating provider either denies or pays us out of network. And then they change it and resubmit it underneath a different provider. And yeah, if that happens once or twice, then it's not going to throw red flags. But when that's happening with every single claim process is out of network or denied due to no out of network benefits, that throws a huge red flag and you're going to get an audit.

 

Kiera Dent (14:57.902)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (15:14.601)

And during those audits, they're looking for irregularities. When they find one irregularity, they search 15 more accounts. During that 15, the more irregularities they find, the more accounts they pull. So it can get pretty in-depth and thorough, and if they find a pattern, then they're definitely gonna hold you responsible to those apps. Another huge area is write-offs. We follow the EOB exactly as it's written.

 

Kiera Dent (15:14.958)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (15:43.453)

except for non-covered services, depending on the state that the office is in. There's a law that protects against non-covered services in some states. So we see offices constantly who will say, oh, you know, fluoride was denied for a frequency. However, we didn't catch this on insurance verification. And as a courtesy to the patient, we want to go ahead and write that balance off for them. Well, in reality,

 

Kiera Dent (15:52.668)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (16:09.726)

Mm-hmm

 

Shasta Clark (16:11.085)

That act is called overbilling insurance. You can look that up. And it is considered a fraudulent act. Unintentional, but it is considered a fraudulent act. Anything that you bill to insurance, you have to bill to the patient. So I always guide our clients to following the EOB and holding the patient accountable. And typically the first question I get is, what about when the patient is angry? I always blame it back on insurance.

 

Kiera Dent (16:20.223)

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (16:26.242)

Right.

 

Shasta Clark (16:40.533)

I'm just as upset as you are, ma'am. I wanted your insurance to pay for this as well. Unfortunately, they are saying that this is what you're responsible for. And they're the ones who are saying they're not going to cover the floor for you. So always, again, pushing it back to the accountability of insurance and the insurance plan. And some providers do get a little bit worried about, oh, OK.

 

Kiera Dent (16:59.68)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (17:05.277)

losing patients when that happens. So if you're a PPO office, I think insurance verification is key here to not surprise billing patients and creating trust in patients, but then also creating transparency with your patients on how their insurance plans work works and them being accountable for understanding their plan and plan benefits.

 

Kiera Dent (17:32.61)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (17:32.661)

Ultimately, at the end of the day, writing off that patient's balance, even if it creates a loss of a patient for not writing it off, is preferred over the liability that the provider is taking for writing off that $25. It is a huge liability to the practice, the provider's license, not just the owner, but the treating provider as well. So definitely those few things, I mean, there are tons we could have, you know.

 

Kiera Dent (17:49.942)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (18:01.321)

a whole year's worth of podcasts on that topic in itself. But those are the two primary ones that I see that are huge red flags.

 

Kiera Dent (18:01.727)

Ha ha ha!

 

Kiera Dent (18:09.114)

Mm-hmm, and I'm so glad you brought that up. So what is the solution you recommend because I hear this one all the time Shasta It's like well, but this person's here and they're not credentialed yet. We want to get them in network What do you recommend they do for those because it is tricky like it takes Usually a couple months for them to get fully credentialed. What is the bridge that you recommend that practices do that's legal and also Takes care of the patients and the new provider

 

Shasta Clark (18:35.577)

I think understanding the patient's benefits is really key to submitting those treatment plans for the majority of plans out there when you're getting things like hygiene done Recall visits they cover 100% of the submitted fee There's very few that have a couple of MetLife plans a few out there that will have 90% coverage or for out of networks or won't actually pay up to

 

Kiera Dent (18:44.662)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (19:00.637)

the fee that's being submitted to insurance. So most of the time for hygiene specifically, the patient is not going to see a difference in their out of pocket portion. With that, there's a give because it does use more of the patient's benefits. So one, making that, being able to identify that when you're presenting the treatment plan. And then if you recognize, I mean, most of the time, if it's a new provider, then they're not even at the point of

 

Kiera Dent (19:15.203)

Totally.

 

Shasta Clark (19:28.697)

seeing patients for actual treatment. Yeah, those patients are just coming in, getting their exams, things of that nature, cleaning, stuff like that. So once it gets to the point of treatment, really your only options to stay in the legal realm and protecting yourself and still being able to treat patients is just complete transparency. This claim will be processed as out of network. We are credentialing will be in network as of this date.

 

Kiera Dent (19:50.423)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (19:55.213)

giving the patient the option if it's possible to push treatment until after they are credentialed. Those are the best ways. And I know that's not the answer that most offices are looking for because it does typically prevent the provider from being able to see as many patients as they would like at the beginning and process and network, but it is going to protect you against the liability of submitting those claims inaccurately.

 

Kiera Dent (20:06.827)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (20:21.87)

Yeah, and I'm so glad you talked about it. So this is going to bring up one last topic that I think is so dicey that so many people do. They'll say, well, now can I put them on a membership plan and bill insurance? What's kind of the lines with membership plans and billing insurance?

 

Shasta Clark (20:35.997)

Yeah, so you're not supposed to combine a membership plan with any type of private insurance. So I would definitely suggest not doing that. Now, the patient can opt to not utilize their insurance and go just with a membership plan. And we're seeing a lot of offices going fee for service and then utilizing membership plans.

 

Um, justify that with their patients because they create a patient culture that insurance is a discount plan. A lot of patients think that insurance is like their medical and it will just cover the sun, the moons and the stars. And they expect that, but they create a culture. Like I was talking about earlier, holding your patient accountable to understanding their plan and what it actually covers. And once the patient realizes I can pay the exact same amount that I'm paying.

 

Kiera Dent (21:12.724)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (21:31.549)

a year in my dental plan and actually get a lot more coverage with an in-house plan, then they're able to get the patient's buy-ins making that switch become fee for service and in the long term make out a lot better.

 

Kiera Dent (21:45.79)

Amen, sister. So I feel like we can't do it together. Like, can't we do membership plans and dental insurance? I'm like, no, absolutely not. Like, that's just not okay. So Chasta, you are a wealth of billing knowledge. And that's why I wanted you to come on. Like, guys, these are things that she's seeing things. And if you can just hear lots of knowledge, which is why I recommend Chasta and Paragon for so much dental billing. So Chasta, what exactly does Paragon do? Because I think some people get concerned, like

 

Shasta Clark (21:47.141)

Hehehehe

 

Shasta Clark (21:55.182)

Mm hmm. Yeah.

 

Shasta Clark (22:01.829)

Thank you.

 

Kiera Dent (22:15.155)

do you guys do credentialing? Do you do insurance verification? Do you do? Um, hate when people say do and I just did it. Sorry, everybody. You do you guys process? Um, like do you do collect? Do you do darn I said again, you do? There we go. Okay, collection calls and AR and claim submission. So like what is paragon's

 

Shasta Clark (22:23.426)

Hahaha

 

Shasta Clark (22:31.264)

Hahaha

 

Kiera Dent (22:40.122)

realm of things that you guys really are specialists in the billing world.

 

Shasta Clark (22:44.297)

Yeah, okay. So right now we primarily service insurance billing and patient billing. We are launching in, I believe, January insurance verification. And then after that, we will be launching credentialing. But for now, these are our two primary services with insurance billing, we take over at the moment the claim is created. So the office is still responsible for actively making sure the procedures are correct, treating provider, creating the claim, they click OK, and we take over from there.

 

We submit all the claims, all attachments, narratives, work any type of rejections, post all insurance payments, and work on all of the aging over 30 days old. And then on the patient billing side, we do all of the statements. We set up a patient billing phone line where they're able to call in, leave a voicemail specific to the office so the patient can call in, ask questions about their bill. It really keeps those hard conversations out of the front office.

 

Kiera Dent (23:24.75)

pair.

 

Kiera Dent (23:42.646)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (23:42.765)

where other patients aren't hearing, you know, those types of conversations. And we take care of walking the patient through their statement, why they owe this, collect payments, those types of things.

 

Kiera Dent (23:53.658)

Very cool. And I know some people get concerned because outsource billing is really dependent upon the biller. And so Shasta, you might be amazing, but then your team might not be to that level. How can they, I guess it's like, how can I make sure that if I were to hire you guys or work with you, I'm going to have top tier billers, because honestly, this is something I hear often. And it's true, it's the quality of the biller. How can they make sure and feel confident working with you guys that it is the top notch, it is the highest one, not just the person who you hired most recently.

 

Shasta Clark (24:12.048)

Yeah.

 

Shasta Clark (24:23.081)

Yeah, that's a great question. So I have, I am always honest and transparent. So we have a very extensive vetting system for our new team members. They have testing, they go through multiple interview processes. But even then, sometimes we get it wrong. You know, it's just like when you're in the office and just complete honesty, sometimes we get it wrong.

 

Kiera Dent (24:45.942)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (24:51.585)

But we have a quality assurance department in place and our quality assurance department goes in from the start date that we start services. We review our team members work at 14 days, 30 days, 60, 90 days, and then quarterly for the life of the relationship. And we keep it to so many at the beginning because it is a new relationship with our team members and the office. And that is typically when you see it struggles.

 

Kiera Dent (25:14.926)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (25:19.797)

with during the transition period, be it on our end or on the office's end, adjusting to the change. So that those quality assurance reviews allows us to make sure that our team member, whether they be a seasoned team member or brand new team member, we are constantly checking to make sure they are delivering the services exactly as we agreed upon. And that allows us to identify any time that there may be a struggle. And we did have a past client where

 

Um, very quickly we found their quality assurance that the team member was not going to be the great fit. It was, we got it wrong that time. Um, I reached out to the owner and I said, Hey, you know, it's been two weeks since we've started service. I just want to be honest. Um, I don't think we're doing the job that we've promised to you guys. So I want to go ahead and do a team change. I'm going to put our season team member on and I, and this two weeks we will not invoice, so I don't think that it is a reasonable expectation to think that you.

 

Kiera Dent (25:57.166)

Uh huh.

 

Shasta Clark (26:17.837)

will go to any outsourcing company and always have a perfect team member. It's just like when you're onboarding in the office, we don't know until we actively have time to work with this team, but ensuring the company that you're choosing is hands on and monitoring the work being done does have some type of checks and balances in place to ensure it. And then for me, the biggest thing is that when it is wrong, when the

 

Kiera Dent (26:23.409)

Mm-hmm.

 

Shasta Clark (26:42.881)

company does get it wrong, that they take full accountability and they fix the problem as quickly as possible to limit the losses that will be there.

 

Kiera Dent (26:48.288)

Mm-hmm.

 

I love it. Shasa, you are just an incredible person. I think you're an incredible biller. I think your company is amazing. Every client that we've sent your way has just loved you guys. And so I'm so excited. I know you guys take care of the Dental Lane team clients and any person who comes from us. So Shasa, if people are interested, they wanna see if they're a good fit with you guys. How can they connect with Paragon and start working with you?

 

Shasta Clark (26:54.309)

Thank you.

 

Shasta Clark (27:11.853)

Yeah, thanks. So you can just go on over to our website. It's paragondentalsolutions.com. And on there, it has all kinds of great information. Our direct number is there, which comes directly to me. So you'll get me on your first call. Or you can also schedule, there's a link to schedule a call at your convenience. We'll jump on chat. I can do a practice analysis for you. Let you know if you do need to outsource. I will be very transparent. I love to dig in and just see.

 

If your current team just needs a little bit more guidance and you're able to really invest in them creating Longevity there or if you do need to outsource so you can go there and schedule or give me a call at any time

 

Kiera Dent (27:51.094)

That's amazing. And I have to ask, because I've just been wanting to know, how did you come up with the name Paragon?

 

Shasta Clark (27:55.909)

Oh, I love this question. My father owns a landscaping tree company. And it's been passed down for generations, my, his father and his father. And it's called Paragon, Paragon tree experts. And Paragon means it's a perfect example of something. So Paragon dental example, dental solutions, perfect example of dental solutions.

 

Kiera Dent (28:04.14)

Mm-hmm.

 

Kiera Dent (28:11.957)

No way!

 

Kiera Dent (28:18.827)

Mmm.

 

Kiera Dent (28:24.938)

That's amazing. I was so curious. I'm like, how did she know with paragon? Like I see no connection to dental at all. So I'm just always so curious. But that's amazing. So it's like, your takedown of this family legacy. And now this is becoming your legacy you're able to build. That's amazing.

 

Shasta Clark (28:26.318)

Yeah!

 

Shasta Clark (28:30.669)

Yeah.

 

Shasta Clark (28:40.521)

Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. I love it.

 

Kiera Dent (28:43.326)

Very cool. Awesome. Well, all of you, I know billing is a tricky thing, which is why I love Shasta, which is why we've chosen to partner with her. I like lots of different billing companies, but Shasta is someone I stamp my name behind. I know she does incredible work. I know she stands behind her work. So go check them out. Shasta, thank you for your time today. I appreciate you so much. It truly was an honor today.

 

Shasta Clark (28:57.14)

Yeah.

 

Shasta Clark (29:03.769)

Thank you. Thank you for having me. It was amazing to be here. I really appreciate it.

 

Kiera Dent (29:08.938)

Absolutely. And for all of you, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental 18 Podcast.

 

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