Dental Collections Agency Articles

As your practice's accounts receivable age, the chances of recovering them decrease dramatically. It's just like a decaying tooth, if you don't take action early enough the tooth is going to be lost. It sometimes becomes a better use of your practices's time and resources to concentrate on providing care. Using a dental collection agency can be profitable for your profitale and help you grow. And if prevents your staff from having to have uncomfortable conversations with your patients.

Best Practices For Dental Bill Payment Options

As a dental practice, you have probably dealt with past due, overdue, and uncollected accounts in the past. How can you avoid this? There is no way to avoid it entirely, some patients simply will never pay. But, offering more than one option to pay, and giving patients several dental bill payment options, makes it easier to otherwise collect on bills patients didn’t make in the past.

Dental Bill Payment Options

Dental Bill Payment Options
Cash
There is the obvious advantage to cash that you receive it when the patient has the work done. There is no risk of non-payment, as you collect in full the day of the procedure. No trying to track down non-payers. With this also comes the flaw that most practices that only accept cash are typically dealing with insured patients only. So, discounted rates are typically given to patients, and you can’t charge as much for procedures. Additionally, if a patient simply doesn’t have cash on the date of their appointment, they are more likely to cancel than offices that accept other forms of payment as well.

Credit
What is the alternative to cash only payment options? To provide additional dental bill payment options. This can include special promotions, which include zero down finance, and interest free periods. Not only does this give patients an incentive to have additional work done, which means higher collection amounts for your practice, it also makes it easier for patients to pay the bill off over time. And, with zero down and interest free periods, patients typically try to pay the bill in full by the promotional period’s end date, to avoid interest charges.

Mixed payment (cash and credit) is another dental bill payment options to consider, for lower risk patients. Those who have stable work history, great credit, and have regularly paid their bills in the past. This allows your dental practice to at least collect a portion of the payment up front on the day of the procedure in cash, and the additional amount will be paid off over the coming months. Make sure you know the patient’s age and job status, repayment history in the past, and ability to pay accounts with other creditors. Doing a small credit check will prove beneficial to dental offices that offer this payment option, as it gives you a better idea as to which payments can, and which ones can’t, make payments on account.

Payment Options
Patients are not only more likely to want to deal with an office that provides more than one dental bill payment options, but will also see the fairness in the dentist’s practice. Further, if patients have regularly paid their bills in the past, on time, your office can provide them with more flexible repayment terms, or additional promotions to repay their bills. Doing so not only ensures the bill will be paid in full, but it is also going to ensure you keep the patients happy, so that they do not leave to a competitor’s practice for future work they need to have done.

Still having problems Collecting?
Regardless of the different dental bill payment options you offer, there is no way to entirely eliminate the unpaid, past due accounts. It is a regular part of this type of work, and some patients are simply going to do all they can to avoid paying a bill. This is where we can help you and your practice. The right dental collection agencies will not only step in to go after the non-paying patient, but will work with your office to learn the best methods to reach these patients, and to find out which methods you have tried to collect from them in the past.

Some patients do not have the means to pay, while others simply do all they can to avoid making payments on past due accounts. Whether patients are ignoring your calls, dodging your emails, or simply won’t respond to mail and collection bill notices, allow us to help you collect on these past due accounts.

Dental Bill Payment Options

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How To Avoid Dental Bad Debt

It is no secret that dental practices deal with far more dental bad debt and unpaid accounts, in comparison to other medical professionals. With this said there are steps which can be taken, and there are things which can be done to help reduce the amount of dental bad debt which your practice deals with on an annual basis.

Dental Bad Debt

These are a few steps which can be taken, to help reduce or eliminate the dental bad debt your office sees annually, and to avoid potential overdue accounts in the future when taking on new patients.

1. Gather The Right Information:
Your office should make it a regular practice to collect certain information when taking on new patients. From DOB, to address, insurance information, phone numbers, driver’s license, email, and social security numbers. The more you learn about a patient, and the more ways in which you can reach them and collect from them, the less likely it is their bill will go into collections and turn into dental bad debt.

2. Personal Identification:
Make it a regular practice to photocopy an ID. From a driver’s license to social security number and other photo documents – having this information will help eliminate the debate as to whether or not the individual in question (in the photo) is the one that owes your practice any money that could turn into dental bad debt.

3. Consent Forms and Treatment Plans:
Make sure payments sign consent forms for all work done and total payment amounts for all work done. This will eliminate the possibility that at a later date they state they did not consent to certain work. Further, detail the treatment plans, cost, and payment options, and have them sign all the paperwork. Doing so leaves no questions as to whether or not they understood what work was to be done, or how much it would cost. It leaves you with a paper trail, and ensures patients can’t say they didn’t agree to certain work at a later date.

4. Collect Early:
If you do allow patients to set up a payment plan, collect as much as possible up front. Whether it is 50% or more, or whether you set up other payment plan amount options up, make sure patients pay something, so that you don’t lose the entire amount if they aren’t capable of paying the rest of their bill at a later date.

5. Insurer Information:
If patients are insured, let patients know what portion of their bill will be covered. As a dental practice your staff knows what is and isn’t covered, and how much an insurer will cover. Let the patient know how much they are responsible for, and make sure they consent to, and sign all paperwork, which ensures they will be paying that amount. If a patient doesn’t agree, they should first speak to their insurer, so that you aren’t stuck with an unpaid account at a later date, and your practice doesn’t have to suffer from additional unpaid collection accounts or dental bad debt.

6. Notify Early:
Send notification accounts out early. Rather than wait 60 days to send out a bill, send it after 30 days. The sooner you notify patients, and the more notifications they get, the higher the chances are they will pay on account. Text, leave messages, call often; do everything possible to get in touch with patients, and to get them to pay the bill which they owe.

7. Discount Options:
Many patients are more receptive to doing work (especially costly work) when they receive a discount. So, if they pay the bill early, give them a percentage discount on the total cost. It not only creates incentive for them to pay early, it also lessens the possibility that your dental practice is going to be stuck with yet another dental bad debt account for unpaid bills.

Dental Bad Debt

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How To Set Up An Effective Patient Collection Policy

Your practice probably has a financial policy in place, but do you have a patient collection policy in place? Many dental offices will answer no to this question, which can be a major issue in your business. If you don’t have these documents in place, every patient that walks in the door is going to have a different understanding of payment terms and how you collect; as a dental practice you do not want this.

Patient Collection Policy

Improve The Way You Run Your Practice

One of the best things you can do for your office is to have an effective patient collection policy in place for new patients to read over. It not only ensures consistency for each and every patient, it also gives your staff a clear, concise understanding of how to deal with new patients, how to collect on accounts, and how to deal with different payment options, for each new patient that your office takes on. So, what should be included in your patient collection policy? These are a few things to consider when setting up the policy:

Simplicity – Avoid legalese and conflicting terms. Make it clear, concise, and easy to understand for patients and your staff.
Discuss It – Talk about the new patient collection policy with your staff. This guarantees everyone is on the same page, understands it, knows what questions to ask, and knows what is required, each time they do sign up a new patient who walks into the offices.
Inform Patients – The worst thing you can do is have a policy in place, and not let patients know about it. Many patients say they weren’t aware of co-pays, insurance coverage, what they had to pay for, and so forth. When your staff discusses the payment plan with each and every patient, it eliminates this confusion. Further, it guarantees you are not going to be dealing with issues each time a new patient comes into the office.

Make sure everyone is on the same page. Not only should your staff be fully informed of the dental collection policy, but each and every patient (new and old) should know it is in place, how it works, what they are responsible for, and what the insurance companies are going to cover, if they do have an insurance policy in place when they come to visit you.

Transparency Equates To Higher Efficiency:

Not only will your staff work more efficiently with clear cut patient collection policy in place, but it will also ensure your patients fully understand what is going to happen, what they have to pay, and what portions of the bill they are responsible for, each time they visit your office. If each and every patient hears and reads the same thing, and signs the collection policy before being seen, there is no way they can say they weren’t aware of something or didn’t understand it. But, if your offices do not work in a uniform manner, confusion will result, lost bills and unpaid bills are going to occur, and new patients are not going to understand how your office practices are, when it comes to collections and paying for the work they have done.

Whether you have a big or small practice, a collection policy is a must. It allows for uniformity, it makes it fair for every patient, and the policy is a guarantee that your staff is fully aware of how much to charge, and how to collect on accounts, each time a patient comes through the doors to have work done.

Patient Collection Policy

There are many ways you can reduce the total number of accounts which go into collections. With this said, there is no way to eliminate the total amount of bills which aren’t paid by patients. If your office is still struggling to collect, after setting up a patient collection policy, let us help you collect on these accounts. Simply fill out this short form, let us know what issues you are having, and we will contact your practice to discuss the options our collections agency can provide. In many cases, your patient collection policy will help reduce the total number of unpaid bills, we can help collect on the other portion which patients still aren’t paying.

Ready to find the right dental patient collection policy agency?

Save time, money and aggravation by hiring a professional who can help you collect some (or all) of your outstanding revenue.

Click the button below and get a free dental patient collection policy agency quote today. After all, you can keep doing what you’re doing (and hope for a different result), or you can work with a collection agency that can help you recover what’s rightfully yours.

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What To Expect When Making Dental Debt Collection Calls

As the owner of a dental practice, you have probably dealt with non-paying patients in the past. With high number of accounts receivable going into collections, your staff has probably made many dental debt collection calls to patients and former patients. Regardless of the reason they can’t pay, there are certain responses which patients are going to give you when they receive this call. So, what should you know, and what should you expect when making dental debt collection calls? These are a few of the most common responses given by patients who haven’t paid, or have been ignoring your attempts to collect for quite some time.

Dental Debt Collection Calls

My Insurance Covered It, Right?
One of the most common excuses you are going to hear when making dental debt collection calls from patients is that they were under the impression that their insurer was going to pay the bill. In fact, this is one of the most common reason for unpaid portions of bills, when patients don’t know how much their insurer covers, and how much they had to pay. Some forget there is a copay, while others simply believe the entire bill is covered by their insurer.

So, what should your staff say in these situations? A good way to handle these calls is to say:” We are sorry for the confusion and are happy to go over your insurance at the next visit. However, you currently owe $XXX, how would you like to pay for this today?” By simply asking how the patient is going to pay, rather than telling them you are going to send out another bill, it forces them to make a payment, rather than giving you another excuse. It is a smooth transition which typically results in having the bill paid in full, without insulting the patient. Further, it lets them know that for future visits, their insurer is not going to pay the entire bill, so you do not have to worry about another account going into past due accounts.

How Much Is The Bill?

Another common reason patients simply don’t pay, and make the dental debt collection calls so difficult is that they didn’t expect the total amount to be as much as it was. This is more common with self pay, rather than insured patients. One option for your practice to consider is to offer setting up a payment arrangement when making the call about their bill. If they can’t pay it all up front, set up a smaller monthly amount, which allows them to pay the total over a period of several months. Although it will take a bit longer to collect, at least your practice is not going to lose the total amount of the patient’s unpaid debt.

Further, you can go on to inform patients you will go over in detail with them, the full cost of a procedure, the next time they visit the office. This will in turn allow them to evaluate what they can afford, and which work they have to do right away, and which type of work can wait until a future visit.

You never know what excuse you will hear, but these two are among the most common when dental offices make the dental debt collection calls. Being prepared for these responses will not only help your staff say the right thing and collect on unpaid debts, but also avoids the potential of insulting a patient, who will completely ignore your calls in the past. Further, it ensures patients are made aware of bills, costs, and their responsibility to pay, for future visits to the office.

Dental Debt Collection Calls

If you are tired of making dental debt collection calls, and the same old response from patients with each call, our dental collection agency can step in to help. Not only do we know how to deal with these responses, we know which methods to take with patients who give us these responses, and are trying to avoid paying their past due account. We are not only going to reduce the total past due accounts you currently have, but will help eliminate the occurrence in the future as well.

Ready to find the right dental debt dental debt collection calls agency?

Save time, money and aggravation by hiring a professional who can help you collect some (or all) of your outstanding revenue.

Click the button below and get a free dental debt collection calls agency quote today. After all, you can keep doing what you’re doing (and hope for a different result), or you can work with a collection agency that can help you recover what’s rightfully yours.

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Dental Debt Collection Agencies – When Is It Time To Outsource?

On a daily basis, dental offices are having problems collecting patient bills which go into accounts receivable. Whether you can’t find the patient, you can’t get in touch with their insurer, or they are simply ignoring you due to inability to pay an account, dental debt collection agencies can step in to help. But, when is it the right time to outsource your account receivable to a dental collection agency? These are a few factors to keep in mind, if you are having troubles collecting on accounts, and can’t reach certain patients.

Dental Debt Collection Agencies

Dental Debt Collection Agencies When Is The Right Time?

For some, turning to dental debt collection agencies after about 4 months (or 120 days), it might be time to write off a patient, and try to work with a collection agency. Certain agencies advise that after a period of 2 to 3 months (60 to 90 days), it might be time to rely on a third party agency to help you collect on bills. Why? For the most part, after this time has elapsed you aren’t going to be able to reach the patient. The sooner you turn to a collection agency, the higher the likelihood of finding the patient, getting them to pay at least a portion of the bill, and collecting on accounts you thought might be closed for good.

What Size Balance Should I Send To Debt Collection Agencies?

Again, this will vary from practice to practice. But, if a bill is in collections, which is $75 to $100, or higher, it might be advisable to work with third party dental debt collection agencies professional service provider. Most agencies will not accept patient bills of smaller amounts, due to the amount of time, work, resources, and effort, required to go after the patient. So, if your practice simply has several small accounts which are overdue, it might be advisable to write them off. On the other hand, if you have several patients which are delinquent, with excessive bill amounts, a collection agency can step in to help.

Who Will Pay The Bills?

Who is responsible for the unpaid bills? It is important you have all relevant and up to date information about a patient, prior to turning the bills over to dental debt collection agencies. From their address and phone number, to social security number, and insurers if they are insured. The more information your practice has, the easier it is going to be for a collection agency to not only track the patient down, but also to get the bill paid off. Further, if you have several notices sent out to patients, and have made attempts to collect in the past, giving this information to the collection agency is also going to provide them with accurate information about all efforts which have been made, in an effort to collect on overdue accounts.

Depending on the amount of patient bills which are overdue, how long they have been past due, and the efforts your practice has made in the past, the right dental debt collection agencies are going to be able to step in to assist you, and at least collect on a portion of the bill amount. Not all patients will pay the account, and in many cases, only partial payments will be made. But the right collection agency is going to prove to be your best ally to receive at least a portion of the total amount your practice has lost.

Dental Debt Collection Agencies

If your dental practice has delinquent accounts, it might be time to work with dental debt collection agencies to help you collect on past due accounts. This is where we can help! Fill out the form below to provide us with information about past due patient bills, efforts which were made to collect, and all other patient payment information, so we can determine what the best option is for you, and whether or not we can work with you to collect on patient bills. Fill out the short form below today, so that we can begin the process, find out the best collection options, and help your dental practice collect on the past due patient bills which are in collections.

Ready to find the right dental debt collection agencies?

Save time, money and aggravation by hiring a professional who can help you collect some (or all) of your outstanding revenue.

Click the button below and get a free dental debt collection agencies quote today. After all, you can keep doing what you’re doing (and hope for a different result), or you can work with a collection agency that can help you recover what’s rightfully yours.

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How To Get Your Dental Accounts Receivable Under Control

Unpaid debts aren’t simply the ‘cost of doing business’. In fact, many dental practices lose far more than they should annually, because they simply say they can’t collect on past due dental accounts receivable, but this isn’t the case. Many practices decide to forego even contacting patients, which means a great amount of lost profits annually. Today, your practice simply can’t afford this, and has to find a way to reach out to patients with past due accounts.

Dental Accounts Receivable

Dental Accounts Receivable
So, what can be done to deal with the dental account receivable bills which aren’t being paid? There are a few things which can be done, and different tactics your office can take, in trying to collect on these accounts. Don’t simply write these bills off, rather, consider these approaches to try to collect on the dental accounts receivable which patients owe to your practice.

Create and Follow Through With A Dental Accounts Receivable Policy:

When are bills sent? 60 days or 90 days after the procedure? How long do you wait before calling a patient who hasn’t paid? Many offices don’t have concrete rules in place, and simply “play it by ear.” This is a mistake, and it is resulting in far too many patient bills going into collections and never being paid. Rather, your office has to create a policy for each and every account. If a patient hasn’t paid after XX amount of days, call them. If they haven’t responded to an email or phone calls, find other approaches to reach them. Your entire staff has to understand the policy, and billing practices. Not only will this help to reduce unpaid amounts, it will also help your practice find patients which are simply trying to avoid paying their bills.

Upfront Discounts:

A way to collect, and avoid even having to bill patients, is to offer them a discount if they pay for the entire cost of the procedure up front. But, many patients can’t afford the high cost procedures, and in these cases, your office can provide a discount for bills which are paid in full up front. This is a sure fire way to guarantee you are going to collect on the entire bill; and, offering this 3 to 5% discount for a complete payment up front, allows patients to focus on the work, rather than on how they are going to pay off the bill over time. It will reduce the total amount of dental accounts receivable in the future, and it is a simple way to guarantee bills don’t end up in collections after a few months of not being able to reach a patient.

Designate Personnel:

Not everyone can handle the task of making calls and trying to collect past due dental accounts receivable. So, have a staff member be the designated person to make these calls, have a policy in place of when they have to call, and how they should reach out to the patients. Further, many offices simply claim they are “too busy” to have a staff member make the calls. If there is a designated person in place to do the work, there is no excuse for not making these calls, and attempting to collect on the dental accounts receivable which are past due.

Dental Accounts Receivable

Your office simply can’t afford to lose out on so many patient payments which are placed in past due accounts. Try these methods to help reduce the amount of bills which aren’t paid, and help increase total revenues to your practice, which were previously written off as lost patient bills.

Work With Us Today:

You can’t control the unpaid accounts, the fact that some patients will ignore your calls, and the fact that some dental accounts receivable are never going to be collected on. With this said, we can help reduce the total amount of accounts which aren’t collected, and help your office collect on past due dental accounts receivable. Simply fill out this short form below, let us know what issues your office is dealing with, how you have tried to reach payments, and what type of accounts are passed due. From there, we will get in touch with you, and let you know how we can help you collect on past due accounts, and reduce the total amount of unpaid debts in the future.

Ready to find the right dental accounts receivable collection agency?

Save time, money and aggravation by hiring a professional who can help you collect some (or all) of your outstanding revenue.

Click the button below and get a free dental accounts receivable collection agency quote today. After all, you can keep doing what you’re doing (and hope for a different result), or you can work with a collection agency that can help you recover what’s rightfully yours.

Get a Free Quote Today