Why Your Downtime Might Be the Perfect Time to Reclaim Revenue

If you're experiencing a slowdown in your dental practice due to the economy, you're not alone. Economic recessions often lead to lighter schedules, increased cancellations, and greater patient hesitation when it comes to accepting treatment.

While it's easy to focus solely on filling the schedule, there's another high-impact opportunity hiding in your downtime—negotiating your PPO fees.

Yes, it may not be as glamorous as cosmetic cases or marketing campaigns, but re-evaluating your PPO contracts during a lull can significantly boost your long-term profitability. And the best part? It doesn’t require any more patients—just smarter strategy.

Let’s talk about why now might be the best possible time to tackle PPO fee negotiations.

1. You Finally Have Time to Focus on It

Negotiating PPO fees is something most dentists know they should do—but never get around to. Why? Because when the practice is busy, fee schedule evaluations get pushed aside.

During slower periods, you have the time and bandwidth to:

• Review your current PPO participation

• Analyze which plans are most (or least) profitable

• Organize the documentation needed to negotiate effectively

• Work with a PPO negotiation service (or do it yourself) with less stress

Use this season to work on your practice, not just in it.

2. Small Increases Can Lead to Big Long-Term Gains

Even modest increases in your PPO reimbursement rates—just 5–10% on your top 20 procedures—can significantly impact your revenue over time.

Think about it:
If you’re doing 500 fillings a year, and your fee goes up just $20 per filling, that’s $10,000/year from one procedure.

Multiply that across other high-frequency services (crowns, exams, extractions), and you’re looking at tens of thousands in recovered income—without seeing a single new patient.

3. Insurance Companies Are Businesses, Too

Contrary to popular belief, insurance companies can and do negotiate. While they may not always publicize it, many will consider higher fees if you:

• Present a data-backed case

• Demonstrate value (production volume, patient access, specialties offered, etc.)

• Are located in a high-demand zip code or underserved area

• Express a willingness to reconsider your in-network status

Your leverage increases if you can show that losing you would hurt their network strength—and during a recession, when access to care is even more important, this message can hit harder.

4. You Can Reassess Your Entire PPO Strategy

A recession is a good time to look beyond just fee increases. Use this opportunity to:

• Identify which PPOs are hurting your bottom line

• Calculate how many patients are truly dependent on each plan

• Strategically drop the lowest-paying PPOs if they no longer make sense

• Shift patients to in-house membership plans or fee-for-service options where appropriate

This isn’t just about making more money—it’s about taking control of your practice economics.

5. It Helps You Prepare for the Rebound

Recessions don’t last forever—but the choices you make during them do.

If you improve your fee schedules now, you’ll be in a stronger position when patient flow returns. You’ll work the same hours, perform the same procedures—but get paid more for doing it.

Your practice becomes leaner, more profitable, and more resilient moving forward.

How to Start PPO Fee Negotiations

Here’s a simple step-by-step roadmap:

1. Pull a 12-month production report by insurance plan and procedure code.

2. Identify your top 20 procedures by frequency and revenue.

3. Compare contracted fees vs. your UCRs (Usual, Customary, and Reasonable fees).

4. Highlight plans with the largest write-offs.

5. Draft a professional, data-supported fee increase proposal or hire a PPO negotiation company to do it for you.

6. Track responses and follow up as needed.

Pro Tip: Many practices also discover they’re being reimbursed through third-party leasing networks without knowing it. Now is the time to clean up your PPO participation and gain clarity.

The Bottom Line

Yes, you should absolutely consider negotiating your PPO fees during a recession slowdown. It’s one of the smartest, highest-ROI moves you can make when your schedule is light.

While others scramble to fill chairs at any cost, you’ll be strengthening your foundation, setting your practice up for higher profitability and long-term growth.

Because in a recession, you don’t just need to be busy—you need to be profitable.

Benjamin Tuinei

Founder - Veritas Dental Resources, LLC
Phone: 888-808-4513

Services:
PPO Fee Negotiators | PPO Fee Negotiating | Insurance Fee Negotiating
Insurance Credentialing | Insurance Verifications

Websites:
www.VeritasDentalResources.com | www.VerusDental.com