Accounts receivable is on the rise. In fact, I had three calls with doctors this week specifically about how the accounts receivable was out of control in their offices and they did not have a systematic process to manage it. This means the dental practice is allowing patients to make payments more often, insurance companies are taking longer to pay and the patients are walking out the door without paying their co-pay for the day of service. According to one of the practices I talked to, the over 90 days past due balances was over 45% of the total accounts receivable.
That is a lot of money, people!
Managing your accounts receivable requires not only good verbal skills, but also a systematic approach to your management routine. It’s important to create a system for managing the insurance money owed and the money owed from the patient so nothing gets missed.
In today’s post, I want to give you some recommendations on the reports to use.
- The Collection Manager is the best tool for managing your A/R. If you are still using the Aging Report for A/R management, I would highly recommend transitioning to the Collection Manager because of its functionality with all the other tools you need when managing money. You have everything you need at your fingertips to document phone conversations, make payment agreements, manage payment agreements, track billing statements, check the ledger and send out a customized collection letter if you need to. If you want a copy of my tip sheet, you can download it here.
- In my opinion, billing statements should be a courtesy to the patient not used as a A/R management tool. In the webinars we do in Novonee and when I am working with a client, I teach to run billing statements every day along with your daysheet and insurance claims. This helps to improve cash flow, spread out patient questions and eliminate it as a monthly task. Billing statements should not be part of your month end routine.
- In Dentrix version 23.4, there is a new Claims Manager which is a much more interactive report that allows you to move around Dentrix modules and see real time claim status. You can also make claim status notes right from the report. It is amazing!
My goal is to help and inspire dental teams to create efficient and productive systems to bring more profitability to every dental practice. Your entire day revolves around your software and Dentrix has all the tools you need to effectively manage your accounts receivable.
I know, no one likes to work on collections, but it has to be done because that is the only way you make payroll. In my membership, I have a comprehensive course on managing your accounts receivable. You can learn more here.
