Automatic Tooth Assignment for PAs

With a previous release of Dentrix Ascend, tooth numbers started being automatically assigned to procedures for periapical (PA) images to help prevent the rejection of claims with PA procedures by some payers that required tooth numbers. However, some payers reject claims with PA procedures that include tooth numbers, so you might have had to start removing tooth numbers from many or all PA procedures, and that might have equated to a significant increase in your workload compared to before the automatic numbering functionality was enabled. With this release, Dentrix Ascend lets you decide what would work better for your organization. Your organization can now specify whether to allow tooth numbers to be assigned automatically to PA procedures or not.

To access the new setting that controls the automatic assignment of tooth numbers for PAs, do the following:

1. Navigate to Settings > Ledger Options.

Note: A user’s access to the Ledger Options page is determined by the existing security right “Manage Ledger Options.”

2. On the Ledger Options page, select the Ledger Rules tab. There is a new option labeled Allow auto assignment of tooth numbers for periapical imaging procedures. This switch is set to Yes by default.

3. Do one of the following:

• To keep allowing the automatic assignment of tooth numbers, leave the switch set to Yes. After you acquire a PA image in Dentrix Ascend Imaging, the tooth numbers are included automatically with the corresponding PA procedure that gets posted in Dentrix Ascend. This option is recommended if most or all of your payers reject PAs without tooth numbers on claims; you may still need to remove tooth numbers from some PA procedures to successfully submit claims with those procedures to some payers.
  Note: With automatic tooth numbering enabled, you can manually remove tooth numbers from PA images as needed.
• To start preventing the automatic assignment of tooth numbers, set the switch to No. With this switch set to No, after you acquire a PA image in Dentrix Ascend Imaging, the tooth numbers are not included with the corresponding PA procedure that gets posted in Dentrix Ascend. This option is recommended if most or all of your payers reject PAs with tooth numbers assigned on claims; you may still need to assign tooth numbers to some PA procedures to successfully submit claims with those procedures to some payers.
  Note: With automatic tooth numbering disabled, you can manually assign tooth numbers to PA images as needed.

4. To save any changes, click Save.

Notes:

• This setting affects all locations in your organization.
• This setting affects only the standard PA procedures that are used in Dentrix Ascend Imaging: D0220, D0230, and D0707.
• The changing of this setting is recorded in the Audit Log.
• The tooth range/number field for PA procedures is still optional.