You’re a dentist looking to successfully own a dental practice. Maybe you’ve just acquired a new dental practice, or maybe you’re just searching for tools to increase your current dental practice’s success. Either way, you’re looking for tools to help you achieve financial and professional success while also providing a fantastic patient experience.
The key to owning a successful dental practice may be hard to pinpoint. What resources, strategies, and tools can be implemented in your dental practice?
DCS is a trusted dental billing partner that has served as a financial and educational resource for dental teams. With the right tools in your belt, we’ve seen how dental teams can take their dental practice’s success to the next level. And when your billing is handled, you’re fully equipped to lead your practice and team.
That’s why in this article, we’re sharing the 3 tools to successfully own a dental practice. With these tools and resources, you will be able to work efficiently using automated technology and services and learn more about dental billing best practices.
1. Modern technology and equipment with automation capabilities
Having modern, up-to-date clinical equipment is important for a dentist to do their job well. That’s a given! But there are other tech tools at your dental practice that should be up to date as well.
Words like automation and new technology can sound intimidating, but it’s something to embrace. While your human touch will always be present in the dental patient experience, technology can help you and your team complete tedious tasks quicker and with ease.
Two examples of technology that can help your dental practice be successful are cloud-based dental practice management software and online patient portals.
Cloud-based dental software
More and more dental teams are moving to cloud-based practice management software. Cloud-based software requires less effort to update and maintain than regular server-based or on-site software. It is also more flexible and reliable. And this is important because your software will be the place where all of your patient records, insurance claims, scheduling, and payments live. So the software vendor you select should be developing improvements to remain on top of the cutting-edge technology.
Some examples of web-based practice management software include:
- OpenDental
- Eaglesoft
- Dentrix Ascend
- Curve Dental
- DentiMax
You can choose software based on your budget and service needs. Modern practice management software helps you run the administrative side of your dental practice easily, with all of the information in one place.
Related: What is the best dental practice management software?
Online patient portals
Online patient billing is becoming an increasingly popular payment option.
Sending out statements and calling patients costs money and takes time that your team could be spending with patients actually in the office. Also, it is common for software systems to charge fees for sending payment reminders, as well as costs for stamps, envelopes, paper, and ink, even if the reminders are sent electronically.
That’s why automated dental patient billing is a key tool to successfully own a dental practice: it saves you time and money.
It even provides a better experience for your patients. With outreaches such as texts and emails, patients can pay their balances in the easiest way, such as by eCheck, credit card, or wallet app like Apple Pay, rather than receiving postal statements. Patients will appreciate your modern, more convenient approach to billing and you will be paid faster.
2. Dental billing services
Speaking of patient billing, you can automate your patient billing and do the patient billing yourself, or you can outsource this arduous task.
With dental billing services, your team can focus on building patient relationships rather than dealing with billing duties. Tools such as dental billing services can even help your practice collect more from patients and insurance companies.
Related: Why is outsourced dental billing the new normal for dentists?
Outsourced billing teams will be able to log into your patient portal and/or practice management software remotely in order to handle tasks associated with patient and insurance billing. They are like an extension of your in-house team, handling the background work of billing such as submitting insurance claims, working the insurance and patient aging reports, and submitting your claims properly to help avoid insurance payment delays.
The outsourced billers will have more time in the day to be laser-focused on your insurance claims. A huge reason dental teams initially look into outsourcing is that their administrative team is short on time to handle billing. With a pool of experts handling your insurance claims, you’ll collect more money, more efficiently.
3. Educational resources for your dental team
Another tool that can lead to dental practice success is taking the time to work on your practice and not just in it! This means you’re investing in your dental team to provide educational resources to them. These can range from training on new equipment to best practices in the practice management software, clinical CE’s to business CE’s
There is so much information in the dental industry to stay up to date with, that it can be easy to fall behind if you aren’t given the proper tools. And falling behind on dental billing best practices can lead to claim denials, inaccurate record-keeping that violates HIPAA, and even damage the goodwill that you worked so hard to create.
There are books, online courses, newsletters, and community groups your dental team can invest in to stay up-to-date with dental industry information. For example, Dental Claims Academy is an educational platform that provides courses on a plethora of dental topics, even offering CE credits. These types of resources can help your practice stay compliant, and instill confidence in your team which leads to a better work performance and less overall stress.
Ready to invest in tools that will make your dental practice successful?
Owning a dental practice can be challenging, but the top priorities are providing a great patient experience, maintaining cash flow, and helping your team find professional success. These priorities are what make a successful dental practice. And they can be achieved through investing in the tools we have named in this article: automated technology, dental billing services, and education.
Dental ClaimSupport is a resource for dental teams looking to get cash flow you can count on. Through our patient and insurance billing services, you will be fully equipped to lead your practice, knowing that billing is taken care of.
To learn more about the resources DCS offers your team, schedule a call with one of our experts.
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