Dentists treat patients and provide a range of services. However, the commercial side faces significant challenges, including payer denials, pending patient collections, and disputes over payments. Here’s why dental billing and collection services play a crucial role in helping practices manage their outstanding dental patient balances by aligning follow-ups, reducing collection days, and offering payment solutions.
Practice profitability suffers because one out of every five invoices has a duration of over 90 days.
Patient collection is directly related to the practice’s productivity. But what if the major payment slips are recorded in accounts receivable (AR)? The practice struggles to manage payroll, investments in technology, and limited resources to expand.
The uncollected cash amounts to thousands of dollars annually. That is not trivial, but rather a high leakage in the extent of expansion, growth, staff retention, compensation, and investment. Unexpected bills are a cause of mistrust in the dental facility. In today’s time, timely payments keep you afloat and avoid dipping below operational expenses.
Majorly, the challenge revolves around the payment issues. More than 75% of patients prefer electronic bills, yet 65% of providers still continue with the manual payment process. The gap creates issues such as:
A dental billing and collection services provider, such as Capline Dental Services, helps improve patient collections and manage payment solutions.
Finances need clarity, and for patients to have financial responsibility, they should be informed during the dental visit. A simple handbook that ensures the patients have read through the policy beforehand to avoid any disputes.
The probability of dental offices receiving payment improves when an outline of expectations is communicated. For example, due dates, accepted payment options, and financial responsibility. Co-pays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses benefit patients in their responsibility. This removes the confusion, and patients have the time to plan about their outstanding balances.
Dental billing services that interact with patients can save time and resources by identifying potential issues before scheduling major treatments. If collecting fees is time-consuming, it is time to review policies or rewrite them with accurate details for collecting overdue accounts.
Strict rules, “pay in full or unpaid,” bump into overdue accounts. This or that feels like pressure, and as a result, they withdraw from their financial responsibility. Flexibility in payment options is a preferable way to collect payments sooner. Align with the practice's needs and patients’ preferences about payment options.
It could be credit/debit cards, checks, ACH transfers, HSA/FSA transfers, bank transfers, and digital wallets. The split payments bring convenience. Dental billing and collection services send reminders before due dates. The notifications ensure they pay their portion. Dentists offer an extended rebate, such as 5% on top of the full payment.
A sensible approach is to receive 50% of the upfront payment before treatment and the balance after completion, to streamline the collection process. However, proper documentation can reduce disputes.
Developing technologies into collection specialists is a wise decision. Dental practices effectively work with modern technologies to secure outstanding balances. How do they support collections? Transparent statements, integrated collections, and automated reminders to track the status of the claims without getting distracted from the aging reports.
Through a clear picture of dashboards about daily collection performance, which prevents balances from turning into bad debts.
Dental billing and collection services stay active on email statements to reduce the response time. Autopay for recurring payments during ongoing treatment can improve patient collection without stretching internal resources. Associating with Capline Services brings experts under one roof to offer expertise, consistency, and technology.
Frontline is the face of your practice and a way to preserve revenue. Timely training and awareness about the latest updates prepare them for upcoming bills. Calling patients for reminders or explaining the insurance breakdown with simplicity is a reflection of a successful practice. For instance, familiarizing oneself with conducting role-plays to navigate challenging situations and how to communicate about payment without compromising patient experience. Periodic reviews and feedback sessions to discuss pain points and realise the metrics, such as aging and collection rate, without disrupting trust.
Patients love discounts or added advantages for their payments. This involves full payment discounts, payment discounts on subsequent visits, and gift cards to enhance collections and impact the RCM.
Reports show that dentists lose around 10% of their revenue as uncollected bills. Early-bird discounts to avoid late fees and a patient loyalty reward to pay systematically and collect outstanding balances effortlessly.
One of the reasons for delayed patient payment is the claim processing. To stay sharp, having an eye on reports with remaining balances can help practices collect the dollars every year. Sooner the better to initiate calls or letters to inform patients about the financial responsibility. Streamlining follow-ups brings clarity and reduces training gaps. Reviewing the numbers for weekly huddles can uncover collection wins and avoid financial surprises. Capline Dental Services has been offering dental billing best practices for decades, which have handled the RCM framework. If you have any doubts, feel free to reach out to our experts.
