To keep the doors open and plan for growth, a dental office must have reliable cash flow. In large part, cash flow depends on effective dental billing and collections.
So what is cash flow? Cash flow is not revenue (profits). Rather, it’s all of the money flowing in and out of your dental practice as fees are collected and bills are paid. A reliable dental billing service will take significant pressure off your front office team. Then your people can focus on the day-to-day running of the practice and serving patients.
You’ll enjoy peace of mind that your practice is in great hands when you see reports each month showing the cash flow, debits, and collections.
What does a dental billing service do?
Billing is only one small part of the services a great dental billing company like Dental Practice Enhancement offers. DPE provides Virtual Administrators, rather than just billing experts. The dental billing responsibilities DPE Virtual Administrators manage for our clients include, but are not limited to:
- Insurance verification
- Patient billing
- Filing claims with insurance
- Posting payments
- Appeals for denied claims
- Dental insurance aging reports
- Follow ups with patients re: outstanding balances
- Negotiating insurance fee schedules
A Dental Billing Service Can Help You Plan for Growth
According to a poll by QuickBooks, 60% of business owners find cash flow to be a problem. Of those, 89% have seen cash flow problems negatively affect their businesses. The issue with poor cash flow is that even if your practice is profitable overall, slower periods can put you in the position of not being able to meet all of your expenses in a given month.
Good cash flow can only be accomplished if your practice is taking in enough funds to meet monthly expenses. This requires:
(1) a sufficient number of patient appointments including recalls,
(2) expenses that do not exceed monthly income, and
(3) a high rate of collections from patients and insurance companies.
Collections are a tough task, and managing appeals with insurance providers can be quite frustrating. Yet, if your dental billing service remains consistent and reports show that your practice is profitable, you can begin to save for potential emergencies. You can also allocate funds to practice growth and development projects.
Timing Really Is Everything
When it comes to cash flow, a practice-owning dentist needs to understand the amount of time between providing a service and receiving payment. Cash-pay patients are great; payment is due at the time services are rendered. Many dentists offer CareCredit to help cash-pay patients afford dental care by making monthly payments. The caveat is insurance payments.
Dental insurance claims are sometimes denied and must be appealed. This process can take months and months, in some cases. However, with a dental billing company like DPE, you’ll have reports that allow you to recognize trends in income timelines. You can then base financial projections on previous trends.
Get the Expert Help You Need with a Dental Billing Service
Dental Practice Enhancement has served dentists for years. The owner, Tina Brown, has been in dental practice management for three decades. If you’d like reliable dental billing for improved cash flow, along with reduced stress in your front office, call DPE today at 833-373-3678. You can also visit us online and complete a contact form.
We’ll schedule a time to answer all of your questions and explain how our Virtual Assistant program can help your dental practice thrive.
