DEERFIELD — State Senator Julie Morrison spearheaded a new law that streamlines dental coverage reimbursement for dental care providers.
“Navigating insurance and reimbursement policies can be difficult, creating barriers to access to timely dental care for Illinoisans,” said Morrison (D-Lake Forest). “Clarifying which forms of payment a provider can accept and how they can opt in to that payment system will streamline dental services and treatments for both the patient and provider.”
Recently, dental providers have experienced a loss of reimbursement funds due to fees associated with bank-to-bank, or ACH, transactions. If a provider can’t opt out of the use of electronic transfers for reimbursement purposes, the electronic processing fee can be subtracted from their reimbursement, leading to payment of less than 100% of what the provider is owed.
Morrison’s law addresses this issue by strengthening rules regarding the use of credit cards and electronic transfers to pay or reimburse dentists. The law prohibits insurers, dental service plan corporations, professional service corporations or insurance network leasing companies from requiring a dental care provider to only accept payment from a credit card or electronic funds transfer. It also prohibits insurers and managed care plans from using the dentist’s preferred method of payment as a factor when deciding whether to provide them with credentials.
House Bill 4464 was signed into law Friday and takes effect Jan. 1.
