In an ideal world, every patient would pay at the end of their visit. Since this isn’t the case, many dental offices invest significant time and manpower collecting payment for services rendered. By keeping best practices for follow-through in mind and employing digital tools, you can improve collections, making the process easier and more efficient for your team.
The key to collections is consistent follow-through—without it, the likelihood of reimbursement diminishes greatly over time. After 90 days, an account loses 7% of the value of that balance monthly. At 12 months, money spent on labor, stamps and supplies will likely total more than what the patient owes. Additionally, by repeatedly sending statements without follow-through, you may end up losing credibility with your patients.
To avoid these issues, it’s important to follow-up at least four times. As soon as five days after initial billing, call patients to let them know that payment is due. After that, the 30-day mark is the perfect time to send a letter to gently remind them of their overdue balance. Once the bill has gone unpaid for 60 days, another more firmly-worded letter should be issued, followed by a phone reminder. At 90 days, the point at which your likelihood of getting paid goes down by 50%, send a final past-due notice. When 120 days have passed and the debt has still not been collected, depending on state and federal laws, you may inform your patient that their debt is being transferred to a collection agency.
Practice management software like Dentrix allows you to take complete control of your collections. By integrating Dentrix into your digital workflow, you gain access to a suite of programs that allow you to analyze and manage patient accounts with ease. With Collections Manager and extensive reporting tools, you can quickly find and filter accounts by balance, age, amount outstanding to insurance and more. Dentrix software makes collections simple and stress-free for staff while encouraging a better patient experience.
Dentrix has partnered with dental practice management consultant Lois Banta to offer “Improving Collections and Billing in Your Dental Practice,” part of a series covering each step of the patient journey. Available as a downloadable eBook, this guide is designed to help familiarize you with Dentrix and contains more expert tips for developing a winning collections strategy.