“Have you ever seen the look on a small child’s face when you try to gently take away their security blanket? Eyes widen in horror and their grip tightens even more. I believe most dentists [and office managers – that’s me] feel the same way when first considering going out of network with an insurance company. The blanket is frayed and doesn’t smell so good [write-offs are so big you lose money on every patient], but the loss is too scary to think about…. Or is it? After being in network with one particular insurance company for 12 years and experiencing exactly ONE increase in what they paid us [not on all codes, just some fillings for about $.25 per filling – yep, that’s 25 CENTS] we were looking for a way out. I hated watching my highly trained and excellent practitioner husband working harder and harder for less and less. The smartest move we made in our bid for independence was to contact Bill Rossi of Advanced Practice Management. We sent reports, details about our practice, investigated which employers used which insurances, and then more reports. The FBI could take lessons from Bill! But because of his thoroughness in finding out about our practice, he could tell us that he believed we would not only survive but do very well out of network with that company. Then he visited our office and walked our team through what to do, say, expect. Had we attempted it on our own, we would have made some serious mistakes in our approach to patients. Seven months later I can honestly say we are doing at least fine. The vast majority of our patients have stayed with the practice and it turns out for most plans the insurance company pays really close to our fees. We are so glad we made this choice. Letting go of the in-network security blanket isn’t easy, but Bill will get you through it just fine.”