You’ve hit a brick wall with collections on a few accounts on your accounts receivable report. Over the last 4 to 5 months you have sent a multitude of statements, called repeatedly at different times, and left courteous — but cautious — messages about “the account” with detailed directives to please call immediately. Even the dunning messages on the statements were carefully constructed to not offend. You ask yourself, “Have I done everything to collect 100% on these dental claims?” You can’t help but have feelings when you remember the patients and their promises to pay with the tax return, the inheritance, and one was getting a second job just to get the dental work done. Each of them was so happy.
“I am referring my neighbor!”
“Your office is so great!”
What happened?
The real question is what happened prior to the treatment to secure financial arrangements with the patients. Was there a written and signed agreement as to how and when they were going to pay? You are not a bank or a collection service, so why did you put yourself in that position?
“The patient promised to pay in full in a week, but I didn’t get that in writing.”
“I was on the phone, so the assistant let them leave because she didn’t know they owed money.”
“I forgot to collect the balance at the last visit because I was busy on the phone.”
“We don’t give treatment plans because we don’t have the time to call insurance companies for benefits. Their insurance didn’t pay anything so the patient refused to pay.”
The hard truth? You may lose the patient — and probably their family and future referrals. And if the patient is refusing to pay, the practice is not collecting 100% of that dental claim. What can you do differently to keep these accounts and their headaches from happening again?
What to do now
All of the tasks required to collect 100% of a dental claim for services rendered can be overwhelming. Verifying insurance coverage, treatment planning, financial conversations, possibly sending appeals — these are just a few. Consider outsourcing your dental & patient billing processes to a trained team. This allows you to focus on what truly grows the practice, while your cash flow remains consistent. Learn more by emailing team@eassist.me, calling 1-844-327-7478, or clicking here!
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