Your dental team may want to automate dental patient billing but are worried this will hurt the relationship you have with patients. If you’ve always stuffed envelopes by hand or sent individual emails yourself, you might be thinking, “Surely I’d never outsource my dental patient billing. It’s supposed to be personal!”
Fortunately, your patient billing process can still be personal even if you automate it! In fact, you can modernize bill-paying for your patients and serve their personal preferences better than ever.
As a full-service dental billing partner, we at DCS understand how important the personal touch is to show patients you care. But you also need to get cash flow you can count on. In our experience, you can prioritize efficiency, improve your cash flow, and maintain great patient relationships - all at the same time.
If you’re comparing the pros and cons of a dental patient billing service vs keeping your current in-house billing system, this breakdown will help. By understanding both options for your dental patient billing, you can make an informed decision on what will make your practice profitable, and run efficiently while still providing an amazing patient experience.
Features of outsourced dental patient billing
Outsourcing your dental patient billing is becoming more and more common among dental professionals because it greatly reduces the time and money that the billing process drains from practices.
Billing services make dental teams more efficient through streamlined patient collections. Specifically, DCS’ patient billing service sets up patient billing software to your preferences. It automates patient billing by working in sync with your practice management software. After any insurance claims are paid and credits applied, the system automatically sends a payment link to your patients.
Your patients also have access to their own portal in the software and are able to see their balances. They can also see a breakdown of their bill, including how much their insurance covered the completed dental care.
What happens if patients don’t pay their dental bill the first time? The system sends friendly reminders on schedule, according to your preferences.
Let’s get into the pros and cons of automating your patient billing using a dental billing company.
Pros of automated dental patient billing
There are several reasons to automate your dental patient billing.
1. Patient billing services will save you time and money.
Reaching out to patients, asking for their treatment payment, and sending them statements in the mail is a drain on overhead resources. You could instead spend your time trying to improve the dental practice, and when you automate payment reminders, you don’t have to spend money on postage.
2. Automated dental patient billing can improve trust through more accurate patient balances.
Have you ever accidentally charged a patient the wrong out-of-pocket amount, and then had to send them an extra bill? If the answer is yes, it’s likely the patient wasn’t happy. With a system that tracks credits and insurance payments, your accuracy rate for patient statements improves. This will make your patient experience better.
3. You can focus solely on the patients in the office.
In a tight labor market, reducing the time spent on administrative tasks empowers you to give patients your full attention. When you’re spending time on the phone, chasing patients down for their balance, you aren’t able to engage fully with in-office patients. And creating those relationships is invaluable.
Now let’s get into the cons of automating your dental patient billing.
Cons of automated dental patient billing
We would be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the downsides to automating your dental patient billing.
1. It might feel slightly less personal to patients.
Most adults nowadays are used to automation. It’s everywhere! But some patients might not love this new payment method, and getting texts and emails from you about their payment might feel annoying and impersonal.
2. You’re trusting an outside party to get payments from your patients.
When you partner with a company like DCS, you are putting a lot of trust in people you likely won’t meet in person. And that can be scary. Make sure to read Google reviews, and do a lot of research when choosing your dental billing company.
3. It’s a new software to learn.
Hopefully, you have a dental team that is excited to learn, and ready to take advantage of tools that will make your billing process more efficient. But that’s not always the case. You are adjusting your billing process. And your team will need to learn how to use this new automated patient billing software. So there will be a transitional period where everyone is figuring it out.
Now let’s get honest about in-house dental patient billing.
Features of in-house dental patient billing
We understand wanting to keep things in-house, specifically patient billing.
Patient billing can be sensitive, and it makes sense to want control over the way your patients are treated regarding their balance. You never want to make a patient uncomfortable by requesting their balance, but you also need to collect what you are owed for your services.
Patient collections account for around half of your overall revenue. So how you collect from patients is crucial. So let’s dive into the pros and cons of keeping your patient billing in-house.
Pros of in-house patient billing
As we mentioned, we understand wanting to keep patient billing in-house.
1. You will see your patients’ treatment and payment from start to finish.
You can account for every aspect of that dental patient’s experience because you (or someone else on your in-house team) have been responsible for every part of it.
2. You will feel like you are personally taking care of your patients.
When you handle patient billing, you can make sure any information the patient gets about their bill is coming from you. This can bring a sense of responsibility that can be very fulfilling for your in-house team.
3. You can better control how you ask for payment from patients.
When you outsource your patient billing, texts and emails will be sent to your patients automatically, reminding them of their balance. When you keep patient billing in-house, you use your own voice to communicate, giving you control on the tone of voice you use, or the message you send.
Let’s get into the cons of keeping your patient billing in-house.
Cons of in-house patient billing
There are of course, some cons to keeping your patient billing in-house.
1. You’re spending extra time calling or emailing patients about their balance.
The time you spend sending patients emails or calling them about their balance could be spent doing something more productive. It also costs money to send a statement in the mail to patients. Plus, if the patient doesn’t answer the phone, you’ll have to call them back at another time.
2. You have to have awkward conversations more frequently with patients about their balance.
It’s not fun to talk to people about money and ask them repeatedly for their balance. This is something you have to do if you keep your patient billing in-house.
3. You’re spending less time with patients in the office.
This is a better use of your time. When you aren’t stuck on the phone talking to a patient about their balance or going through a list of patients who you do need to call - you can spend more time with the patients in your office. You can create relationships with these patients which is the best thing you can do for your practice.
Collecting patient balances is crucial to having a profitable dental practice. And you now know the pros and cons of outsourcing your patient billing.
Ready to maximize your dental patient collections successfully?
Your patient collections are a huge portion of your revenue. And while it may be hard to collect from patients sometimes, healthy cash flow depends on it.
By knowing the pros and cons of outsourcing your patient billing vs keeping it in-house, you can make an informed decision on how to collect from your patients efficiently.
DCS offers patient billing services that will boost your collection rate, save time and money, and even personalize your patient experience. To learn more about patient billing services, schedule a call with one of our experts.
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