Are you struggling to get patients to pay on time? Is your dental practice suffering because of excessive accounts receivable? If you answered “yes” to these questions, our virtual administrators and trainers can help! At Dental Practice Enhancement, we understand what it takes to make a dental practice succeed.
The first step towards minimizing your accounts receivable is to identify the problem. Then, you can implement three new ideas to ensure your dental practice is successful.
Reasons for Excessive Accounts Receivable
It’s normal for a dental practice to carry some accounts receivable—it can even be a good thing! Dental practice experts recommend carrying accounts receivable that equals one month of your average production. This will vary from dentist to dentist.
Ultimately, you make the call because it’s your bottom line that they are affecting!
Here are a few reasons for excessive accounts receivable:
- Fear of losing patients
- Lack of training
- Not prioritizing prepayments
- Improper insurance estimations
- Not using automatic payments or bank drafts
- An unorganized accounts receivable system
- Unmotivated team members
Addressing these problems and mindsets is essential to improving your cash flow. Then, implement these three simple solutions to reduce your accounts receivable.
1. Charge Interest for Faster Payments
Paying interest is normal when it comes to cars, homes, and banks, so paying interest for dental care shouldn’t turn people away. We recommend offering a few months of no-interest payments to encourage patients to pay their outstanding balance quicker. After those few months, the interest will just be more money in your pocket!
2. Let Low Debts Go
Sometimes, forgiving a loan is the best policy, especially when it costs more to collect it than to just let it go. For example, if one of your team members is spending time sending mail-out reminders and making phone calls to a handful of patients who owe less than $50, you’re spending more than you are making.
Understandably, it’s frustrating that some people won’t just pay off such a small debt but letting those accounts receivable go will open your team up to complete more productive and profitable tasks.
3. Reach Out to a Dental Practice Management Company
For dentists who want an entirely new approach to collecting unpaid accounts, a dental practice management company is a great option! Rather than paying an in-office team member a salary, providing benefits, and paying extra taxes and insurance fees, dentists can pay a virtual assistant to do the work for one monthly fee.
Not only will your accounts receivable be significantly lowered, but you’ll save money by not having another staff member. Additionally, your dental team members will have more time to focus on patients and other necessary and important tasks.
Contact Dental Practice Enhancement Today
Our team at Dental Practice Enhancement prides ourselves on being some of the best in the business. We work with dentists to create a productive and profitable dental practice by offering virtual assistants and onsite training.
Whether you want to have your team members implement new techniques or want our virtual assistants to take over, we know you won’t be disappointed!
Your accounts receivable shouldn’t be bringing down your business, they should be a sign of success. Let us help you create a more profitable practice. Call (833) 373-3678 ext. 1 today.
