Episode 70:

Mr. Tuinei began his dental career in 2007 while working for 10 location group practice in Phoenix, Arizona, managing all insurance-related functions. During his first few months, he created systems and operating protocols and restructured a 12 person billing department that improved collections from a low 65% to 98%. Simultaneously, Mr. Tuinei learned how to negotiate effectively with 3rd party payors; this gave a boost in annual insurance-related revenue of nearly 1 million dollars for a team of only ten general dentists. Mr. Tuinei’s early experience in negotiating with 3rd party payors caught the attention of other large group practices and hundreds of solo dental practitioners in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Colorado. Consequently, he unintentionally discovered an under-served section of the dental industry: 3rd party payor negotiating (aka insurance fee negotiating). Mr. Tuinei opened Optimum Dental Solutions in September 2009 and rebranded to Veritas Dental Resources in 2015.

To date, Mr. Tuinei has worked with over 6,700 dentists influencing over 3 billion dollars of newly negotiated revenue for his clients. Mr. Tuinei currently serves as the President of Veritas Dental Solutions and is a key advisor to various State Dental Associations, CPA firms, and coaching/consulting firms in dentistry.

Mr. Tuinei is going on his 21st year as a professional public speaker. He currently serves as the President of Veritas Dental Resources and sits on the Board of Directors for The Dental Business School, Business Ownership Mentoring of America, The Dental Leadership Academy, and a co-host on The Navigating Dental Insurance Podcast.

Mr. Tuinei has been recognized by several state Dental Associations and various dental study clubs as The Authority on PPO strategies and PPO fee Negotiating. Please see his most recent article in Dental Economics about how to police unethical and illegal insurance practices.

What You Will Learn:

• Ben’s journey into the dental industry
• How the process of fee negotiations works with insurance companies
• Why most dental practices don’t realize that insurance companies are negotiable
• Ben’s top negotiation tactics and strategies for dealing with insurance companies
• The benefits and drawbacks of fee negotiations for different types of practices
• How new dentists can better prepare themselves to negotiate with insurance companies
• The typical timeframe for a practice to go through the negotiation process

How to contact Ben Tuinei:

• Website: https://veritasdentalresources.com/about/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-tuinei-464a0318/