If I had a dollar for every time a dentist told me,
“Ben, we’ll look at PPO negotiations next quarter…”

I wouldn’t need to negotiate PPOs anymore.

Let’s just say this upfront:

“Later” is the most expensive word in your practice’s vocabulary.

And not because you’re lazy.
Not because you don’t care.
But because you’re busy being a dentist.

You’re doing exams.
You’re diagnosing.
You’re leading a team.
You’re putting out small fires before they become five-alarm infernos.

And while you’re doing all of that…

Insurance companies are quietly enjoying your delay.

The Math That Nobody Wants to Look At

Let’s remove emotion and just look at numbers.

A $1M practice with a 10–15% reimbursement gap is losing:

$100,000–$150,000 per year

$8,300–$12,500 per month

$275–$410 per day

That’s not “maybe money.”
That’s not “theoretical money.”

That’s pure profit walking out the door because contracts haven’t been optimized.

And here’s the kicker:

You’re already doing the dentistry.

Same crown.
Same filling.
Same hygiene visit.
Same team effort.

The only difference?
You agreed to get paid less for it.

The Silent Donation Program

When you delay PPO negotiations, you are essentially enrolling your practice in:

The “Voluntary Insurance Donation Program.”

No plaque.
No recognition ceremony.
No thank-you card.

Just reduced reimbursement and the illusion that “we’ll deal with it later.”

Every month you wait, you’re writing a check to the insurance company for doing absolutely nothing differently in your practice.

Imagine telling your associate:

“Hey, I know you worked hard this month, but we decided to donate 12% of your production to the insurance carriers.”

They’d look at you like you just diagnosed a Class II on a premolar that doesn’t exist.

Yet that’s exactly what happens when contracts sit untouched for years.

Why Dentists Wait (And Why It’s Understandable)

Let’s be fair.

You wait because:

• You’re unsure what leverage you actually have.

• You’ve heard “they never increase fees.”

• You don’t want to rock the boat.

• You’re worried about patient attrition.

• You’ve tried once before and got nowhere.

And let’s be honest…
Insurance companies have trained dentists to believe fee schedules are untouchable.

But here’s what I’ve seen repeatedly:

Most doctors don’t lose money because they can’t negotiate.

They lose money because they never start the conversation.

PPO Negotiations Aren’t About Greed

This isn’t about squeezing patients.
This isn’t about price gouging.

This is about:

• Paying your team competitive wages

• Investing in better technology

• Reducing burnout

• Building reserves

• Protecting the long-term health of your practice

You deserve to be paid fairly for the level of care you deliver.

Your hygienist deserves a raise that doesn’t feel like a financial panic attack.

Your assistant deserves to work in a practice that isn’t operating on artificially suppressed margins.

Fair fees create stable teams.

Stable teams create better patient experiences.

Better patient experiences build stronger communities.

This is leadership, not greed.

Procrastination Is a Leadership Cost

We often think procrastination is just a time management issue.

It’s not.

It’s a leadership cost.

Every quarter you delay:

• Inflation keeps rising.

• Your supply costs increase.

• Payroll climbs.

• PPOs quietly lease networks behind the scenes.

• Your effective reimbursement shrinks.

And because it happens slowly, it feels normal.

Until one day you look at your numbers and think:

“How are we producing more but keeping less?”

That’s not a clinical problem.

That’s a contract problem.

Strategy Over Hope

In our Dental Revenue & Insurance Strategy Daily, we emphasize one thing over and over:

Strategy beats hope every single time.

Hope says:
“Maybe fees will improve.”

Strategy says:
“Let’s measure, analyze, and take action.”

Hope says:
“We’re too busy right now.”

Strategy says:
“We can’t afford not to do this.”

Hope is reactive.

Strategy is intentional.

What Happens When You Move It From “Later” to “Now”

When practices actually engage in PPO optimization, something interesting happens:

• They gain clarity on where they stand.

• They identify the real reimbursement gaps.

• They realize some contracts aren’t as “necessary” as they thought.

• They start operating from strength instead of fear.

And sometimes, this is my favorite part,
they discover they’ve been dramatically underestimating their leverage.

You don’t need to drop every plan tomorrow.

You don’t need to go nuclear (unless you want to).

But you do need to stop pretending that “later” doesn’t cost you.

Because it does.

Every single day.

The Inspiring Truth

You went to school for years.
You invested hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You carry clinical responsibility that most people couldn’t handle for five minutes.

You are not meant to operate on scraps.

Your skill.
Your integrity.
Your team’s effort.

They deserve to be honored with fair reimbursement.

The math doesn’t lie.

And neither does leadership.

It’s time to move PPO negotiations from the “later” pile…
to the “now” pile.

Because the most expensive word in your practice isn’t “crown.”

It’s “later.”

Benjamin Tuinei
Founder – Veritas Dental Resources, LLC
📞 888-808-4513
Services: PPO Fee Negotiators, PPO Fee Negotiating, Insurance Fee Negotiating, Insurance Credentialing, Insurance Verifications
Websites: www.VeritasDentalResources.com, www.VerusDental.com