Tag Archives: Payment

Top 10 Reasons Why Dentists Should Carry Their Own Dental Coverage

8 Jun

CFS DENTAL OFFICE

If you have a dental practice, you should seriously consider setting up your own self-administered dental plan.  Here’s why:

  • Dental insurance covers less and costs more every year for patients
  • Dental insurance pays the dental office less and less every year
  • You can customize a dental coverage plan to meet the specific needs of your practice
  • Patients and staff always know how much is covered and what remains
  • Far easier to administer than conventional insurance plans
  • Makes dental care more affordable to the patient, resulting in more treatment plan acceptance
  • Provides treatment to patient immediately
  • The dentist earns a greater portion of service than paid by insurance companies
  • Patients will stay in the practice longer
  • Patients will get treatment they would otherwise neglect.

The purpose of the Private Dental Plan program is to help the patient receive immediate and personalized service through a dental service plan and allow the dentist to keep more money for their services.  This self-administered dental service plan allows dental offices to offer access to dental coverage for those who would not normally be able to afford it.

Through my new affiliation with Dental Practice Services, Inc., I am now able to assist practices in getting set up with such a plan.  Please contact me for more information about how your practice can benefit from a personalized self-administered dental plan.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The most common lies dentists tell themselves – DentistryIQ

15 Jun

The most common lies dentists tell themselves – DentistryIQ.

This is a good article, and I recommend that all my dental clients and friends read it and take it to heart.  There is one lie that dentists often tell themselves that I would like to add to the list:

PATIENTS WILL PAY THEIR BILL EVENTUALLY AS LONG AS I DON’T MAKE  THEM MAD BY ASKING FOR IT TOO AGGRESSIVELY

This is just not true.  Patients who owe you money may be waiting to see how serious you are about collecting the money, or they may not be planning to pay you at all.

Systematic, regular follow-up early in the process (not just a monthly statement) is required for those who either forget to pay or are too disorganized to get your bill paid on time.

Third party impact is necessary for those who don’t believe that you are serious about collecting their money.

Professional collectors are necessary for those few who are “professional debtors.”

Even if you could do some of this in-office, it is not time-effective or cost-effective.  I would like to show you a way to accomplish all of this less expensively than the way you are doing it now, and giving your staff time to do things that actually grow the practice.

Request a brief consultation, via phone, using the form below.  Quite lying to yourself!

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Patient payment responsiblity increases | Healthcare Finance News

11 Jun

Patient Payment Responsibility Increases.

Does this surprise you????

If you have been paying attention these last few years, you already knew this.  It has been steadily going up for a lot of years.  What many doctors and practice administrators don’t know, or aren’t paying attention to, is the result of this increase.

Doctors MUST, perhaps for the first time, figure out how to get patients AND insurance companies to pay them faster.  In many cases, to pay them at all.  To fail to do this quickly is resulting in:

  1. A 10-fold increase in SBA backed loans made to medical practices over the last 10 years.
  2. An unprecedented number of physicians forced to declare bankruptcy, even though they have very busy practices.

This does not have to happen!!  It is foolish and unsustainable.  I can show you, in 22 minutes, how to get more patients paying you, and faster than before as well as speeding up the response time from insurance companies who benefit from dragging their feet before finally sending you a check.  I can show you how to do it for less than you are currently spending to do it the way that you are currently doing it, possibly the reason for the problem after all.

Respond to me via the form at the bottom of this email, requesting a 22 minute A/R strategy session.  It won’t cost you anything and you will know, when we are done, if the tools I recommend will help you put more cash in your accounts than you are currently getting.  Even so, after we are done you are under no obligation to take my advice.

Isn’t it worth a 22 minute phone call?

Patient payment responsiblity increases | Healthcare Finance News.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Tips To Improve Collections (Part 5)

13 May

It’s a problem faced by virtually every business and medical practice – how to deal with customers / patients who pay their bill late, or not at all.  While customers and patients expect prompt and professional service, they don’t always meet the same standard when it comes to paying their bill.

Accounts not paid promptly can severely impact the cash flow of a business or practice.  A clearly defined and carefully communicated, yet diplomatic payment policy, may help avoid difficult collections situations.

Tip #5

USE YOUR AGING SHEET, NOT YOUR FEELINGS

Many businesses/practices (or some well-meaning people on their staff) have let an account age beyond the point of ever being collected because he or she “felt” the customer would pay eventually, and did not want to offend or alienate the customer/patient.  While there are certainly isolated cases of unusual situations, the truth is that if your business/practice is not being paid, someone else probably is.  So stick with your systematic plan of following-up on slow pay and delinquent accounts.  If it is done systematically and early in the process, it will soon be apparent who intends to really pay and who doesn’t.  Appropriate action can and should be taken once you know where your business/practice stands.

Contact me if you would like information on ways to get this accomplished in your own situation.  The consultation is free.

To receive each of these 10 tips by email, please follow this blog by entering your email address on the right side of the page.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Tips To Improve Collections (Part 4)

12 May

It’s a problem faced by virtually every business and medical practice – how to deal with customers / patients who pay their bill late, or not at all.  While customers and patients expect prompt and professional service, they don’t always meet the same standard when it comes to paying their bill.

Accounts not paid promptly can severely impact the cash flow of a business or practice.  A clearly defined and carefully communicated, yet diplomatic payment policy, may help avoid difficult collections situations.

Tip #4

CONTACT OVERDUE ACCOUNTS MORE FREQUENTLY

No law says your business/practice can contact a customer/patient only once a month.  The old adage, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” has a great deal of merit when it comes to collecting slow pay and delinquent accounts.  Contacting late payers every 7-14 days will enable you to diplomatically remind the customer/patient of your terms of payment.

If recent economic conditions have made it impossible, due to reduced or inadequate staffing levels, to make contacts that frequently, never fear.  What used to be a benefit that only the largest companies/practices could afford, there are now VERY inexpensive services available that will do the contacting for you, in your name.  This accomplishes the level of frequency you need, without spending more money (often even less) than it would cost you to do the contacting in-house.

For more information on services that are available to increase the frequency and effectiveness of account follow-up, please contact me personally.

To receive Tips and Tricks by email, please follow this blog in the box in the right hand column.

 

Tags: , , , ,

Top 10 Tips To Improve Collections (Part 2)

7 May

It’s a problem faced by virtually every business and medical practice – how to deal with customers / patients who pay their bill late, or not at all.  While customers and patients expect prompt and professional service, they don’t always meet the same standard when it comes to paying their bill.

Accounts not paid promptly can severely impact the cash flow of a business or practice.  A clearly defined and carefully communicated, yet diplomatic payment policy, may help avoid difficult collections situations.

Tip #2

INVOICE PROMPTLY AND SEND STATEMENTS REGULARLY

If your business/practice doesn’t systematically invoice and bill, start now.  Many times bills aren’t paid simply because the customer/patient hasn’t been billed or reminded in a timely manner.  Monthly statements aren’t enough anymore.  Each customer/patient should be reminded at the least every two weeks.  The lack of accomplishing this often occurs in smaller or newer businesses or practices where there isn’t enough staff to handle the invoicing and billing properly.  If staffing or the cost of regular systematic, frequent follow-up is an issue in your case, help is available to get it done in a economical manner.  With our economy today, there is no replacement for getting this done one way or another.

Contact me if you would like information on ways to get this accomplished in your own situation.  The consultation is free.

To receive each of these 10 tips by email, please follow this blog by entering your email address on the right side of the page.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

%d bloggers like this: