Do you struggle to collect from patients? Is your office team spending hours each week trying to track down late payments? If these scenarios ring true, you are likely struggling with a high accounts receivable. And this is a huge problem for your billing and insurance, not to mention your overall practice success.
The team at Dental Practice Enhancement can help! We offer training for dental administrators, or you can outsource your bill collection to our remote team. Whatever you decide, we will work with your practice to build on your strengths and get your accounts receivable back to a healthy level.
Contact us today to learn more about our training and remote administrative services.
Understanding Accounts Receivable
Why is accounts receivable important? Not only do you lose money on unpaid bills; every late payment also costs your practice money. First, you are paying your team to make calls or send out late payment notifications. And on top of that, with rising inflation, when you collect money late, it’s worth less than it was when you issued the bill to begin with. For instance, if you issued a bill for $500 in January, that same treatment would have cost $504.46 in March.
1. Enforce Payment Plans
The most obvious way to improve your accounts receivable is to ensure that your patients are paying on time. Try using different media to contact patients or ask for their preferred method of communication – phone call, email, text, mail – at the time of service. Have different members of the team reach out at varying times.
2. Offer Incentives
Of course, the best way to prevent overdue bills is to have patients pay in advance or at the time of service. Offer discounts for prepayments or payments in full.
You can also offer various forms of financing. Try contracting with several third-party financing companies, and offer an in-house system, if possible.
3. Verify Insurance Benefits in Advance
Ensuring timely payment actually begins before treatment. When a patient calls to make an appointment, verify their insurance at that time and notify them of any changes. Give an estimate of treatment costs before service so that they are not left scrambling with a larger-than-expected bill.
4. Set Up an Online Portal
From grocery shopping to business meetings, so much of our lives are lived virtually. Guarantee the same convenience for your patients when it comes to bill pay. An online portal allows patients to pay whenever it is convenient for them.
5. Prioritize Office Training
Maybe your team doesn’t have the necessary expertise to collect overdue bills. The experts at Dental Practice Enhancement can help you set up payment plans and an overall system for timely payment. We can teach you the most effective ways to talk to patients and help you come up with standard scripts to use when making collections calls.
6. Outsource Your Accounts Receivable
Alternatively, your office doesn’t have to deal with collections at all! When you use virtual administrators to lower your accounts receivable, it takes the pressure off of your team. It also improves patient relationships. Patients see your team as caring medical professionals, rather than debt collectors.
Contact Dental Practice Enhancement
To learn more about our billing and financial training or to discuss our remote administrative services, contact us today.
Reach us online or give us a call at (833) DPE – FOR – U.
