Master dental patient collections process for profitability: 3 smart tips

Your dental patient collections process is a gateway to higher income.

In January 2023, DCS customers who utilized our automated patient billing service averaged a 1,477% ROI. One dental office even experienced a 4,000% ROI after just one month of utilizing our automated patient billing services.

But sometimes patients want to push back on their out-of-pocket cost, and this delays your dental business receiving its payment. 

There are several reasons your patient might be shocked by their treatment cost. Most of these reasons can be prevented through a streamlined patient collections process.

A streamlined process has clear, step-by-step standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your team to follow. The clarity that SOPs provide makes the collections process easier for your team as they move patient through the collections process. 

SOPs also provide clarity for patients when it’s easy for your team to explain how much they owe. 

This article will cover these 3 tips to master the art of the dental patient collections process:

1. Avoid surprises with streamlined insurance verification
2. Communicate costs transparently with an effective treatment plan presentation
3. Automate your patient collections to go from manual processes to magical processes

Using these tips will help your team collect from patients more easily while still creating an elevated patient experience.

Tip #1: Avoid surprises with streamlined insurance verification

Insurance verification is the process of checking a patient’s insurance coverage before their treatment to get an estimate of their treatment coverage percentage. Insurance verification is the time to check for coverage maximums, out-of-date coverage, or anything else that could:

• Prevent the insurance company from paying for their part of the patient’s treatment 
• Cause patients to push back on paying their bill

The insurance verification process is tedious and time-consuming, so it often takes a backseat to other office tasks. If your team handles 40 patients a day, taking the time to investigate each patients’ insurance coverage can seem impossible. 

Without support for insurance verification, you’ll miss key information needed to communicate a patient’s insurance coverage to them. As a result, when they receive their bill, they may not understand why they are paying so much out of pocket. 

Related: Top mistakes in the insurance verification process and how busy dental teams avoid them

You can avoid unwelcome surprises on patient bills through technology-assisted insurance verification services.

Our insurance verification services at DCS, for example, are performed 2 days before your patient’s treatment. This gives your team ample time to confidently communicate the patient’s out-of-pocket estimate. 

Your team will present costs with more confidence, as they know insurance is being verified by experts who provide all the information needed to give an accurate treatment plan presentation. Let’s get into that next.

Tip #2: Communicate costs transparently with an effective treatment plan presentation

Your treatment plan presentation is where a member of your team sits down with a patient and explains the necessity of their treatment.

This presentation is crucial, not just because you’re guiding the patient towards improved oral health, but because it’s your opportunity to be transparent about costs. 

Related: How to handle a dental patient who has a problem with their bill

Transparency is key when it comes to your treatment plan presentation. The presentation is built with information you receive from your RCM experts during insurance verification. With this information, you must clearly explain: 

• The full cost of the patient’s treatment
• The patient’s financial responsibility for the entire cost of treatment (no matter how much insurance covers)
• The approximate percentage of what their insurance might cover 
• A plan to spread treatment out over time to reduce costs (if appropriate to the treatment)
• Your payment plan or financing options

Read more in our article “3 tips to successfully communicate your patient's dental treatment plan presentation.”

Clarity on costs before a patient’s treatment means they fully understand their financial responsibility. This reduces a patient’s hesitation about paying their bill, and ensures a smoother patient collections process.

Does your team have time to present the details above? If you’re at all unsure about the answer, then they likely don’t.

Revenue cycle management (RCM) services will give your team the time and resources needed to effectively communicate treatment and costs to patients. Learn more about our RCM services on our website.

Tip #3: Automate your patient collections to go from manual processes to magical processes

As mentioned earlier, in January 2023, DCS customers averaged a 1,477% ROI through our automated patient billing service. One dental office experienced a stunning 4,000% ROI after only one month with our automated patient billing services.

As you can gather, an automated patient billing system will transform the way you collect from patients, and the way your dental team works. 

”Automation can unify the dental team and inspire them to achieve more,” says Gary L. Kadi, CEO of NextLevel Practice in ADA News. 

Automated patient billing services make collection from patients easy. You’ll see: 

• Patient statements issued automatically with easy payment options and friendly payment reminders
• Minimized costs and time due to elimination of paper statements
• Monitored direct deposits and outstanding balances 

Automating your patient billing provides clarity to patients on their costs, and it also makes it easy and convenient for them to pay. The easier it is for your patients to pay, the more likely you will collect everything you’re owed. 

Learn how automated patient billing services can take your income to a whole new level in this video: 

Unlock financial freedom by streamlining your patient collections process

To recap, we covered 3 tips for mastering your dental patient collections process: 

1. Avoid surprises with streamlined insurance verification
2. Communicate costs transparently with an effective treatment plan presentation
3. Automate your patient collections to go from manual processes to magical processes

Your patient collections process is a crucial part of your revenue that must be optimized to ensure the financial health of your business. When you implement these tips, higher and smoother patient collections are inevitable. 

DCS offers dental billing services along with our other revenue cycle management services. When your processes work together, you’ll see your revenue soar. Take your patient and insurance revenue to the next level and book a call today.