In dental billing, the fixed fee charged for an office visit, independent of the services provided, is known as the

• A. Encounter
• B. Co-payment
• C. Procedure number
• D. Explanation of benefits

Answer: (A)

In dental billing, the event of a patient coming in for a visit is called an encounter. The encounter has a fixed charge that applies to the visit itself, regardless of which procedures are later performed. Any specific treatments are billed separately using procedure codes, so the encounter charge covers the visit portion only.

A co-payment is a fixed amount the patient pays at the time of service as dictated by the insurance plan, but it’s not the overall visit fee charged by the office. A procedure number is the code for a particular service or procedure, not the overall visit charge. An Explanation of Benefits is the insurer’s statement of how payments were made and what the patient owes, not the visit fee itself.

Therefore, the fixed fee charged for an office visit independent of services is the encounter.