Hi stratforddental!

The short answer to this one is yes, a dentist can be considered an in-network provider or supplier with medical insurance.

The long answer is - some insurers will only contract with oral surgeons & physicians! But, i work with many dental offices who have obtained in-network medical contracts across the country. For example, for medicare for sleep apnea appliances, the dentist must contract with Medicare DME as a DME supplier, instead of a medicare provider like a physician would.

Really what this comes down to.....is it depends on the payer. Contact them ask their provider relations/credentialing department how best to apply to be an in-network provider and/or supplier.

The medical and dental plan are not the same, and will not pay the same. You are looking at a different deductible, and coinsurance, basically a whole different benefit breakdown.

If you bill both medical & dental for something, you will want to submit the claim to medical first, then to dental when you get the EOB back from the medical plan (you will need to submit a copy of the EOB from the medical policy with your dental claim, or visa versa, but normally you will want to file medical before you do dental if you're filing both).

As we are out of network, when billing anthem, I am told I have to bill BCBS of IN since its the state where services are rendered regardless of what BCBS state they have, is this true? What is the correct Anthem BCBS of IN claims address? I've also heard of some BLUEcard thing when trying to call about claims or send in, that its through them when its an out of state Anthem, how does this work? Is there a direct number to call Anthem BCBS if IN to talk to someone about claims if I ever need to? Please help solve this confusion.

Trystan