Efficient workflows are the backbone of successful dental practices. They’re the engines that keep your dental business running. They ensure smooth operations, leading to a more productive staff, higher patient satisfaction, and increased profits.
However, broken workflows will have the opposite effect. Missing paperwork, missed steps in the process, and missed deadlines will mean you’re missing out on revenue.
A broken workflow has errors made along the way that cause delays in payment from both patients and insurance claims. When payment delays happen too frequently, you’ll see deep dips in revenue and a growing AR aging report.
Many dental teams have bypassed their broken workflows by turning to streamlined revenue cycle management (RCM) services. These services take over some of your in-house processes and oil the gears of others, ensuring vital billing tasks are completed efficiently, accurately, and consistently.
But even if you decide to work with an RCM provider, you’ll still want your own office to run well, so let’s dig into how you can address your broken workflows with these 3 steps…
Step 1: Audit your current workflow processes
When you hear the word ‘audit’ you might think you need an official to come in and give your processes a letter grade for how well you’re performing. Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that.
Auditing workflows just means taking note of how your office team moves through each step of their administrative processes. We recommend taking an extra close look at their revenue cycle process, in particular. How well the wheels of your revenue cycle turn directly impacts — you guessed it — how much revenue you have on hand.
It’s well worth your time to move through each process with your team, step-by-step, to see what works and what is causing halts in the gears.
You can also conduct a more thorough audit by engaging in staff interviews to see what they think works and where problems lie. Who knows better what’s working, and what’s not than the people who are actually performing each step of your workflows?
And for a complete assessment, you can gather patients’ feedback on their experience — Was scheduling easy? Was billing and checkout seamless?
This approach to evaluating office workflows helps identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in critical areas like:
- Patient scheduling
- Insurance verification
- Treatment planning
- Billing processes
- Payment processes
Broken workflows in any of these areas lead to delays in revenue via denied insurance claims, timely filing issues, and outstanding patient payments. Your cash flow depends on your ability to pinpoint where office processes are broken.
Read more: 10 reasons your dental insurance claims are being denied
For a bit more guidance, here are the ideal timelines for critical billing workflows in your dental business:
- Seamless insurance verification performed at least 2 to 3 days in advance
- Claim creation and submission done within 1 to 2 business days of the treatment
- Attention given to the insurance aging report weekly to follow up on unpaid claims
- Payments posted and reconciled every single day, as soon as they are received from both patients and payers
Once you’ve evaluated your workflows and see where deficiencies are, you can begin to take advantage of tools and resources that mend common problems — let’s discuss that next.
Step 2: Leverage technology for streamlined operations
Many parts of your workflows can be repaired by putting the right technology in place.
After you’ve audited your processes, think about what tools you’re using — or not using –- to make your workflows more efficient. Could new tools, or software or equipment updates ease and enhance the current workflows?
Technology plays a pivotal role in optimizing dental practice operations. Today’s automated systems and AI-assisted technologies will transform the way your team’s tasks are completed, adding efficiency, accuracy, and ease.
Automation cuts down on manual administrative work, and also reduces overhead costs related to printing and postage, while ramping up the flow of revenue into your business.
Read more: A digital dental practice: 3 reasons why you should embrace technology at the office
You’ll make a positive impact on your business by automating the following processes:
- Scheduling and appointment confirmations
- Patient billing and payment reminders
- Patient registration
When you use today’s technology to your advantage, especially when it’s used as a tool to repair your broken workflows, you’ll see fewer errors and more revenue.
Step 3: Maximize revenue by implementing changes ASAP
Now you and your team are ready to make productive and profitable changes to your processes. It's crucial to act swiftly in implementing solutions to broken workflows, as boosts to your revenue will soon follow.
Prepare a plan to implement these changes, then gather your team for a meeting to go through where you believe changes should be made and your plan to get them done — together.
Work closely with your team to adapt to changes, keeping in mind that big changes will include growing pains and an adjustment period. Assure them that these improvements will streamline their work in the long run, even if it feels weird and uncomfortable at first.
And of course, establish a system for ongoing monitoring of your newly improved workflows and processes, and make quick adjustments as needed. Your initial changes may not be perfect, but you can always change what’s required to make the engine of your office run more smoothly.
This cyclical approach to improvement ensures continuous optimization of your business’s workflow and revenue generation.
Related: Take your SOPs to the next level: 3 dental practice management SOP tips
Explore the financial impact revenue cycle management services could have on your workflows
Let’s recap the 3 steps to repair your broken workflows:
Step 1: Audit your current workflow processes
Step 2: Leverage technology for streamlined operations
Step 3: Maximize revenue by implementing changes ASAP
By auditing your current processes, leveraging technology, and implementing changes swiftly, you can significantly improve your dental practice's efficiency, productivity, and profits.
If you still feel in over your head with your broken workflows after reading this, remember that our RCM services offer a comprehensive solution to streamlining your processes and enhancing your revenue cycle.
With DCS revenue experts moving through these steps with you and for you, you’ll feel confident that your gears will keep turning, and profits will keep coming.
Repair your broken workflows and get the cash flow you’ve earned: Book a call with DCS.
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