Insurance Carriers vs plans

[PedoDentist]

My office is pretty new but I have been looking thru my carrier and plans list and they are pretty long with duplicates in each.

Could someone please explain the hierarchy of insurance carriers and plans and what the difference is between the 2?

Also, do I need to keep multiples of each?

Thanks

[Jorgebon]

Insurance carrier is the insurance company. This list will keep the insurance company's address, phone and electronic ID. In this list, the carrier list, you only need to have each insurance company mentioned once.
The insurance plan list is much larger because it consists of all the different plans any insurance company will sell. For example you could have a plan for Delta 100 80 50, or Delta 80 70 50. This list will keep all the different plans and their benefits. On this list you will have each company mentioned several times because each company will have several different plans.