Customer Story
How Atlanta Pediatric Dental Specialists Eliminated Verification Failures and Stopped Revenue Leakage
"It’s just amazing to get instant verification at the front desk!"
Dr. Priya Gulati
Founder, Atlanta Pediatric Dental Specialists
Inaccurate Verifications Were Costing the Practice Thousands
Atlanta Pediatric Dental Specialists is a high-volume pediatric dental practice in Marietta, Georgia, led by Dr. Priya Gulati. The practice serves over 5,000 patients across Marietta, Kennesaw, Acworth, and surrounding communities.
On the surface, the practice was thriving. Underneath, a verification problem was quietly draining revenue.
Dr. Gulati’s previous verification vendor was delivering inaccurate eligibility data. Benefits breakdowns were unreliable. Coverage status was often wrong. The result was a cascade of preventable claim denials that pushed costs onto patients and created billing surprises that damaged the practice’s reputation.
⏳ Insurance verification took days. Patient ready to schedule? "We'll call you back once we hear from your insurance."
😕 Patient estimates were often wrong. Insurance paid less than expected. Patient got a surprise bill. Some paid it, some didn't.
🕳️ When patients get surprise bill, they leave a bad review. And nobody blames the verification company. They blame the clinic.
📭 Patient balances sat there. $300 here, $500 there. Nobody followed up. Eventually it felt awkward to ask.
On the surface, the practice was thriving. Underneath, a verification problem was quietly draining revenue.
Dr. Gulati’s previous verification vendor was delivering inaccurate eligibility data. Benefits breakdowns were unreliable. Coverage status was often wrong. The result was a cascade of preventable claim denials that pushed costs onto patients and created billing surprises that damaged the practice’s reputation.
⏳ Insurance verification took days. Patient ready to schedule? "We'll call you back once we hear from your insurance."
😕 Patient estimates were often wrong. Insurance paid less than expected. Patient got a surprise bill. Some paid it, some didn't.
🕳️ When patients get surprise bill, they leave a bad review. And nobody blames the verification company. They blame the clinic.
📭 Patient balances sat there. $300 here, $500 there. Nobody followed up. Eventually it felt awkward to ask.
Annual collections
$1M+
Happy patients
5000+
Years in practice
8
Here's what was actually happening
General dentistry billing is straightforward. Cleanings, fillings, crowns. Insurance knows what to do with it.
Cosmetic is messier:
💄 Cosmetic codes often get denied, but there's a workaround. Veneers might be "not covered" but pay at 50% if you bill them as crowns. Bonding might pay as a filling. You just have to know how each plan works.
📅 Annual maximums run out fast. Patient needs $4,000 in work but has a $1,500 max? You either phase it across two years or they pay way more out of pocket than they expected.
🧾 Patient portions are confusing. When someone owes $1,800 out of pocket and they thought it would be $1,200, they get frustrated. And frustrated patients don't always pay.
⏰ Small teams don't have time for this. When the front desk is checking patients in, answering phones, and scheduling, they can't also spend 45 minutes on hold with Cigna.
Cosmetic is messier:
💄 Cosmetic codes often get denied, but there's a workaround. Veneers might be "not covered" but pay at 50% if you bill them as crowns. Bonding might pay as a filling. You just have to know how each plan works.
📅 Annual maximums run out fast. Patient needs $4,000 in work but has a $1,500 max? You either phase it across two years or they pay way more out of pocket than they expected.
🧾 Patient portions are confusing. When someone owes $1,800 out of pocket and they thought it would be $1,200, they get frustrated. And frustrated patients don't always pay.
⏰ Small teams don't have time for this. When the front desk is checking patients in, answering phones, and scheduling, they can't also spend 45 minutes on hold with Cigna.
"My front desk is great with patients. But I was asking them to also be insurance experts. That's two different jobs. And we only had time for one."
Dr. Priya Gulati
After Lavender Dental
Metric
Before
After
Collection rate
92%
99%
Time to verification
4 days
<30 min
Verification Accuracy
84%
100%
✅ Patients trust the numbers now. When she gives an estimate, it's accurate. No surprise bills. That builds trust and closes cases.
📈 She's thinking about growth again. Hard to invest in marketing when 27% of revenue is disappearing. Now the foundation is solid.
"When Lavender showed me that almost 9 out of 10 of our denials could have been caught at the front desk, that hit hard. We were losing money on problems that should have never made it past check-in."
Dr. Priya Gulati
Founder, Atlanta Pediatric Dental Specialists
What we actually did
We took over billing and rebuilt it around how a cosmetic practice actually runs:
⚡ Same-hour insurance verification. Within minutes know what the patient's plan covers and what they'll owe. No more "we'll call you in a few days."
🧮 Everything written back to the PMS system. The front desk staff did not have to spend their time copy pasting from a pdf to the PMS system (Open dental). Everything was written back.
📋 Configurable lead time. The practice set how many days in advance verifications should run, giving the front desk time to address issues before the patient arrives.
📞 Full workflow visibility. Every verification was transparent. The portal showed exactly what was checked, when, and what the result was. No black box.
⚡ Same-hour insurance verification. Within minutes know what the patient's plan covers and what they'll owe. No more "we'll call you in a few days."
🧮 Everything written back to the PMS system. The front desk staff did not have to spend their time copy pasting from a pdf to the PMS system (Open dental). Everything was written back.
📋 Configurable lead time. The practice set how many days in advance verifications should run, giving the front desk time to address issues before the patient arrives.
📞 Full workflow visibility. Every verification was transparent. The portal showed exactly what was checked, when, and what the result was. No black box.