If you did not meet your goals for the first quarter of 2021, do not beat yourself up too much or your team. Instead, let’s review some items so you can correct them and look forward to the second quarter of 2021. The area I want to make sure a practice is strategically addressing each month is their cash flow since this may be the most immediate need.
For various reasons, some reports do not get the attention that they should on a weekly or at least a monthly basis. I want to make sure you focus on certain reports so you can continue into April with a strategy. One of those reports that can fall to the side is your outstanding insurance report. This report shows which claims you are waiting for payment. I have seen clients take the easy way out and resend outstanding claims instead of researching and finding out what is keeping each claim from getting paid. Needless to say, this is not the way to manage this report. Most claims are getting paid within 14 days if the claim was sent correctly. If you do not see anything on your electronic transaction report, there is a reason why you have not received payment within 14 days of sending the claim. Time must be set aside to follow up with these claims.
Once you have followed up on all of your outstanding insurance claims, you will then need to focus your time on the patient accounts that owe you money. This report, patient aging, should be reviewed weekly or at least twice a month to make sure you are sending out statements in a timely manner. As soon as you get into a regular flow of properly working these two reports, the job in front of you is not so large and intimidating. In addition to actively reviewing these two reports, there is something else you can do to help your cash flow in your practice.
Another area that can help your cash flow is collecting what the patient owes at the time of service – or before when they schedule their appointment. By working this into your daily routine, it should increase your cash flow each day. I have had some clients swear to me that their patients will not do this. I believe we need to teach them this is how business is done at your office. Plenty of businesses require payment before services are rendered and dentistry is no different. I often give examples of going to your physician for your visit or a pharmacy to pick up medications. Payment is made at the time of service. Since covid, there have been some changes with using a digital flow instead of paper transactions. Most offices have the ability on their website to accept payments or send a payment link via text to the cell phone of your patient. There are many options now available to help you with getting payments from your patients. If you have any questions about this or how to change by using more digital processes in your office, please reach out to me to schedule a complimentary strategy call. You can contact me at www.victorydentalmanagemnt.com.