Depending on if your dental practice participates with insurance companies, dental patient billing balances make up anywhere from 40-100% of your collectible revenue on services rendered. But what is dental patient billing? Since this is a crucial element of your practice’s cash flow, it is important to completely understand what dental patient billing entails and why consistent processes are necessary.
What is dental patient billing?
Dental patient billing encompasses every aspect of collecting payment or co-payment from patients for treatment completed. This begins with transparent treatment plan presentation and ends with the patient having a zero dollar balance. But there are many steps in between, and if even one of those steps is missed that can result in low cashflow, unnecessary writeoffs, and low patient retention.
The most successful dental practices understand that clear financial processes and transparent treatment plan presentation are key to successful dental patient billing. From the clinical team to the doctor to the Office Manager or Financial Coordinator, there is a role that every team member plays in successful dental patient billing processes. Insurance verification, correct CDT coding, financial agreements, etc, etc. — all of this is vital to collecting from patients in a positive manner that instills trust in your office systems.
Another critical dental patient billing process is collecting outstanding balances after insurance claims have been processed and paid. This includes phone calls, statements, HIPAA compliant emails or texts, and reminder letters. Regular follow-up is key, as the longer the patient balance is outstanding the less likely it is to be resolved.
Why is dental patient billing important?
With nearly 65% of dental practice’s participating with dental insurance, dental patient billing is a crucial component in a dental practice’s revenue cycle management whether you participate with one or twenty insurance companies. Annually, the average dental practice loses 9% of collectible revenue, which can add up quickly regardless of the size of the practice. This is due to missed dental and patient billing processes, which can be streamlined to reduce cashflow volatility and increase monthly revenue.
Options for streamlining dental patient billing processes
You can undoubtedly understand why it is important to have dental patient billing experts in your corner. eAssist Dental Solutions is the nation’s leading platform for dental billing and patient billing services and has billing experts that know the dental patient billing processes forwards, backwards, and upside down. You can rest assured that ALL of your accounts receivable are being given the attention they need to get off the books and in your bank account. This means increased cash flow, more time for patient care, and no more revenue cycle management disruptions. Email LearnMore@eassist.me, call (844) 327-7478, or click here to schedule a no-obligation consultation.
Keep your front desk team focused
Regular dental patient billing processes aren’t easy, and can be overwhelming to even the most experienced team. We recommend a dedicated billing line to keep your front desk team focused, read all about it here.
