Effectively managing practice collections is essential for maintaining financial health and ensuring the sustainability of your practice.

Here are 10 strategies to help you succeed in collecting timely payments in your office.

1. Create and Communicate a Financial Policy. Your financial policy should be in writing and require a patient’s signature, acknowledging their understanding and agreement to abide by it. The policy should outline when payment is due, acceptable payment methods, financing options, and policies for overdue payments. Discuss the policy with all new patients and have them sign to acknowledge their understanding. Review again when scheduling any restorative treatments to avoid misunderstandings. Whenever changes are made, ensure all patients sign the updated policy. Document any financial arrangements in writing prior to scheduling.

 

2. Set a collections goal of 99% of net production.  Net production is the collectible portion of production after contractual write-offs. Print monthly reports and compare your collections rate to your goal, strategizing ways to improve collections if needed.

 

3. Train your front office team to properly explain your financial policy, set up payment plans, and estimate the patient portion with dental benefits. This will boost their confidence in collecting at the time of service.

 

4. Collect at the time of service, including the estimated patient portion when dental benefits are utilized. Don’t wait until the benefit plan has been paid to collect the estimated patient portion.

 

5. Plan a daily front office huddle to research outstanding patient balances for each patient scheduled for the next day. It’s natural for patients to question an old balance, so reviewing in advance will give the team the confidence and preparation needed to explain clearly and confidently. Clinical team members should be instructed to walk each patient out, with a thorough hand-off to the front office to facilitate collections.

 

6. Leverage technology by offering electronic billing. Patients are more likely to pay for treatment when it is easy and convenient for them.

 

7. Offer third-party financing. Financial barriers can limit your case acceptance and hamper the patient’s ability to move forward with treatment. Third-party financing can offer longer terms for the patient while submitting the full payment to the practice.

 

8. Actively manage outstanding AR through the patient’s expected communication methods gathered from their new patient information—phone calls, texts, or email. Use scripting that will guide team members through conversations in a helpful, non-confrontational manner. If the balance can’t be resolved, plan to send a series of collection letters for the past-due amount. Ensure you follow all appropriate state and federal collections laws, including the Federal Trade Commission’s Fair Debt Collections Act.

 

9. Review insurance aging monthly. Many benefit plans limit the amount of time to collect for a procedure. Run an unsubmitted and outstanding insurance claims report monthly and follow up on each claim.

 

10. Don’t accept the assignment of benefits for out-of-network plans; instead, collect in full at the time of service and let the patient know they will be reimbursed directly from their plan. If you do accept assignment of benefits, estimate that the plan will pay less than anticipated to avoid the need to call patients to collect additional monies.

Consistently applying these strategies will enhance your collections and boost your practice’s overall financial health. To support your practice in maintaining a healthy collections routine, please contact your Account Manager or the Practice Support Team for additional resources, including scripting and collection letters.

 

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Your success is our success. Please reach out to us anytime.
Learn more, visit the Practice Support Team page, email us at PracticeSupportTeam@BurkhartDental.com, or call 1.800.665.5323.

Category: Practice Consulting

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