Sourcing standards
Primary sources first. Statutes, regulations, court opinions, agency manuals, and payer documentation. Where we rely on secondary commentary, usually because a primary source is unlinkable, or because a law firm’s analysis is the fastest route to a legislative status, we say so and name it. State pages are built around primary authority. The DSO laws by state table routes to a page for every state and the District of Columbia. Each page identifies the statutes, rules, cases, agency materials, and source limitations used for its summary. Official compilations are preferred; a secondary source should be labeled when it is needed to locate or interpret difficult primary material. Material legal propositions should be traceable. Pinpoints appear next to the proposition or in the page’s source table so an operator can open the authority and frame the unresolved question precisely.What we deliberately don’t publish
50-state day-count tables. Refund deadlines and escheatment dormancy periods vary by state and property type, come from several sources, and may change without much notice. A static table can quickly become inaccurate. The refund timing and escheatment pages explain how to find the current rule, identify common requirements, and set an internal standard. Licensed code sets reproduced wholesale. CDT is ADA-licensed; CPT is AMA-licensed. We describe the systems and use minimal illustrative codes. For CARC and RARC we summarize the working set and link the authoritative X12 list. Cached payer and administrator assignments. The dental benefit administrator for a state’s Medicaid dental program can change at reprocurement. We link the current program page instead of relying on a static assignment. Legal advice. We explain the rules and cite the sources so you can bring a precise question to counsel licensed in your state. The wiki is not a substitute for legal advice, and pages that address law say so. Financial advice. Pages on banking, treasury, and practice finances describe how the mechanics work and what the tradeoffs are. Choosing among them for your own business is a decision for your accountant, your tax adviser, and your bank.Review cadence
We review every page annually. Legislation, payer links, and code tables are reviewed more often than that, and any page is revised as soon as the law or rule behind it changes.Known limitations
- CPOD tier labels are ours. Classifying a state as strict, moderate, or permissive involves judgment, and reasonable practitioners weigh proprietor clauses, enforcement history, and board posture differently. We cite the statute behind each classification; verify against it and with local counsel.
- State pages are summaries, not opinions. They orient you and point at primary sources. They are not a substitute for local counsel, and the newest legislation may not yet be reflected everywhere.
- Payer content ages fastest. Portals move, forms change, dental benefit administrator assignments turn over at reprocurement, and timely filing limits are contract-specific regardless of what any table says.
- Vendor content reflects a point in time. PMS, clearinghouse, and membership-platform vendors frequently consolidate, rebrand, and change their offerings.
- Vendor descriptions are descriptive, not endorsements. Where we describe how a vendor fits a use case, we give the reasoning and the caveats. Verify both against your own requirements.
Conflict of interest disclosure
This wiki is maintained by Lemma. Everything in the wiki is vendor-neutral, including dental banking discussions. The banking concepts, account structure guide, and reconciliation guide are written to be useful regardless of where you bank, and the all-in-one platforms evaluation rubric applies to Lemma too. If any page reads like a sales document, tell us. The site’s value depends on being useful to readers who will never be customers.Report an error
Please report errors so we can verify and correct them. Email contact@getlemma.com with:- The page URL
- What is incorrect
- The correct information, ideally with a source
- Legal or regulatory claims that are wrong or out of date
- State pages that don’t reflect current law
- Broken or moved payer and administrator links
- Vendor descriptions that are inaccurate
- Anything that reads as promotional rather than useful
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Law firms, dental groups, and operators can write for this site. One author per page, credited with a link to their website.