S2 Episode 7: Burn the Ships: The Eligibility Standard

Sarah Beth, CEO at Dentistry Support, addresses the efforts of the eligibility team in episode seven of Inside Dentistry Support for Eligibility. She emphasizes the importance of thorough and accurate insurance verifications, drawing an analogy from Hernan Cortez's commitment by 'burning the ships.' She urges team members to fully commit to their work, avoid cutting corners, and ensure complete documentation. The goal is to foster trust, reduce stress for dental offices, and ensure patients receive the care they need. Sarah encourages the team to identify and eliminate any remaining hesitation in their work to achieve excellence and reliability.

Transcript

 📍  Hey guys. It's Sarah Beth, CEO here at Dentistry Support. Welcome to our eligibility season. This is episode seven of Inside Dentistry Support for our Eligibility team. This season is all about the work our eligibility team does every single day. Verifying insurance, documenting everything, uploading, clarifying, immediate insurance verification requests, our help desk, everything in between.

You're the first step in a dental office's day to running smoothly. And today we're gonna talk about what it means to go all in, to lead from the front and to truly commit to being part of this mission. Because there is a difference between doing eligibility verifications and owning eligibility verifications.

And today it all starts with a story. In 1519, Hernan Cortez arrived on the shores of Veracruz, Mexico with 600 men, 16 horses, and 11 ships.

. His orders conquered the Aztec Empire, but he and his men were far outnumbered and far from home.

As the legend goes, once they reached land, he issued a bold command, burn the ships, no turning back, no retreat, no backup plan. Their only option was forward. This wasn't about being reckless, it was about being committed. That same mindset is what sets our eligibility team members at Dentistry support apart.

And that's our best eligibility support team members. Because if you're still holding on to lifeboats, things like rushing through breakdowns of benefits, skipping frequencies, limitations, or history, or waiting until the last minute to double check your work. You haven't burned the shifts yet. Let's talk specifics.

Here's what burning the ships look like when you're part of our eligibility team. You don't wait for our two o'clock check-in or any reminders. You verify benefits on the schedule that the office needs out of habit, because you know this is what's needed out of the work that you're doing.

You don't give vague verifications or partial information. You break down everything. Maximums, frequencies, waiting periods, clause limitations, and everything in between. You don't assume our clients know what you mean. You document every verification, like it will be used in the court of law.

You take the time to do it. You follow up. If you're missing a subscriber id, you speak up. If a policy doesn't match or doesn't look right, you check it again. If something feels off you listen to your gut. You show up like someone who is all in. Not someone just trying to get through their shift.

Dental offices rely on us for peace of mind, and there's nothing peaceful about receiving incomplete breakdowns, discovering active treatments that were ineligible, scrambling the day of treatment because the verification wasn't done. Every mistake chips away at trust. Every delay puts stress on the patient, on the dental office, on the team.

But every accurate verification builds confidence in our company's name. We don't just check benefits. We protect reputations, ours and the dental offices. So you're gonna have an eligibility power moment today. I want you to pause for just a second and open up a Word document your cell phone, an app on there somewhere, or just a notebook you might have on your desk.

I want you to create a list and I want you to title it. Ships I need to Burn in my Eligibility Work. I want you to answer these questions. What are you still holding onto? Are you rushing verifications last minute? Are you procrastinating in your work? Are you avoiding tough calls to insurance because you just don't wanna have to wait on hold?

Are you not fully reviewing your PDFs before uploading them? Are you moving on to the next patient without really double checking your work? Are you guessing instead of confirming, are you skipping a verification and marking it done because you don't wanna deal with that specific insurance company?

Write it down. These are your secrets. Then I want you to commit to burning one of those this week. It's not about being perfect, but it is about presence. It's about you showing up in ways that matter. You are the reason our clients start their day feeling prepared. You are the reason patients get the care they need with confidence.

And when you show up with burned ships behind you, there's only one direction left to go and that's forward. So don't hold back. Don't wait to be corrected. Be the one who leads. You weren't hired to float. You were hired to anchor excellence. When you upload a breakdown that answers every question before it gets asked, that's good.

When a front desk team member calls or sends a message on teams and doesn't have to follow up, that's good. And when you burn the ships and lead the office before the day even starts, that is dentistry support. Good? Every job has pressure, but eligibility has power. You get to decide whether your task becomes someone else's relief or someone else's fire.

The most respected eligibility team members at Dentistry Support, they aren't the fastest. They're the ones who care the most. The ones who take 60 extra seconds to check again, who document in full sentences, who never say done unless it's actually done. So let me ask you, where are you still hedging your commitment?

Where are you still waiting to go all in? Today is your moment. Burn the ship. Be the eligibility teammate that you would want supporting you in your own dental office.  📍 I'll see you guys in the next episode.