third party payer
Top 10 frequently asked questions that help FDA members succeed lated from the date the patient was last examined or treated (Rule 64B5-17.002(4)). However, your malpractice carrier may recommend you keep the records for seven years for statute of limitations purposes.
By Casey Stoutamire, FDA Director of Third Party Payer and Professional Affairs
The Florida Dental Association’s (FDA) mission statement is “Helping Members Succeed.” We take that to heart and want you to call us first whenever you have a question related to your practice, whether it be related to practice management, finance, scope of practice, anesthesia or sedation, licensure, CDT coding, insurance plans — the list goes on and on! And if we don’t know the answer, we will find it for you or point you to the expert in that subject. Below is just a few of the type of questions we can help you with. We look forward to talking with you soon!
3. What do I need to have in my patient records? Rule 64B5-17.002(1) states: The dental record shall contain sufficient information to identify the patient, support the diagnosis, justify the treatment and document the course and results of treatment accurately, by including, at a minimum, patient histories; X-rays (if taken); examination results; test results; records of drugs prescribed, dispensed or administered; reports of consultation or referrals; and copies of records or reports or other documentation obtained from health care practitioners at the request of the dentist and relied upon by the dentist in determining the appropriate treatment of the patient. Remember, your records are your best defense if you ever have a patient complaint so the more thorough they are, the better!
1. Do I have to take the dental licensure exam again if I want to relocate to Florida? The Florida Board of Dentistry (BOD) is the body that regulates and licenses dentists in the state. Currently, Florida accepts the ADEX exam, as administered by the Commission on Dental Competency Assessments (CDCA) as its licensure exam. This means if you take this exam, whether in Florida or another state, you can use those results to apply for licensure in Florida. The BOD accepts all scores after Oct. 1, 2011, which means you only have to take the exam again if you took the licensure exam before that date. And, as of May 2022, Florida now accepts the non-patient-based exam for licensure.
4. Dental plan XYZ denied a patient’s claim. Or, can the dental plan bundle all the CDT codes for a crown or the dental plan only reimbursed for x procedure when I performed y?
2. How long do I have to keep patient records? The BOD rule states that patient records must be kept for at least four years and the four-year retention period is calcu-
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I am the Director of Third Party Payer and Professional Affairs. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any and all questions related to insurance and dealing with insurance plans. I can’t guarantee a positive outcome, but I do have contacts with decision makers at most of the dental
