Front Office Accountability Measures

Reports Doctor Should Review

As a part of your leadership responsibilities in your practice, it is important to expect accountability from each of your team members, regarding their roles in the office. While you generally have the opportunity to directly observe and hear the patient interactions in the clinical area, often what is not directly known are the operations of the administrative office.

In order to have a better understanding of the effectiveness of the systems being implemented in the administrative office, please request your front office administrator report out to you on the following.

Daily

• Deposit of receipts for today – Your financial coordinator will prepare a deposit for another team member or yourself to take to the bank.
• Day sheet report of all transactions – This report will include all production, payments received, and adjustments for the day. The two things you will want to review carefully are:
  • Production – Make sure all of the patients you saw today are listed with appropriate procedure codes and fees.
  • Adjustments – Determine from the report if the adjustments appear to be warranted. If the adjustments are unusual, ask for an explanation.

Monthly

• Month-End Report – This report verifies the month is “closed out” on the computer. With most computer systems, once the month is closed, modifications cannot be made to the month. It is possible to make any necessary adjustments, although you cannot change the information previously closed. This feature protects your administrative team. On this report, please notice adjustments in particular. Ask about any appearing on patients who haven’t been seen during the month or any that appear to be larger than expected.
• Accounts Receivable Aging Report – This report should be reviewed by the Doctor and the Financial Coordinator (FC) consistently. There should be notes on the report next to each name indicating what the communication has been with the responsible person on the account and how/when the account will be paid. This process will serve two purposes, the FC will be held accountable for this portion of her responsibilities and the Doctor will stay informed about who has overdue accounts.
• Outstanding Insurance Claims Report for Claims Over 30 Days Old – This report is worked in conjunction with the Accounts Receivable Aging Report. It allows the front office person to see, at-a-glance if the overdue balance is personal or due to an unpaid insurance claim.
• Un-Submitted Insurance Report – Most dental software has this report to list claims that have not been submitted for any reason. It is important this report is reviewed and the claims go, whether electronically or as a paper claim.
• Adjustments Report – Review all adjustments and verify they are within practice policies.
• Short Call List – Review the short call list in order to put a special emphasis on the need to continually populate this list.