Posted on December 27, 2018
4 AREAS TO PROTECT AGAINST LOSS OF ORTHODONTIC PRACTICE REVENUE
1) Time is money. Process your claims in a timely manner.
Monitor un-submitted and rejected claims reports and process them on time. This is important because neglecting these reports will lead to delays in filing and could result in the claims being denied by the patient’s insurance company. And you know what that means – you’ll have to write off those balances that would have otherwise been paid by insurance.
2) Not all employees are trustworthy.
Conduct a monthly review of discounts and balance adjustments on patient accounts to reduce employee theft. Why? Employee theft can easily be hidden through these types of adjustments. It’s important to meet with your team to determine what the appropriate percentage threshold is for discounts and adjustments.
3) Like your wardrobe, accounts should be current and up-to-date.
Prior to treatment, your staff should ensure every patient’s account is current and up-to-date. If it isn’t, make sure your staff knows to make it that way before treatment can begin.
4) Making payments should be easy as pie.
Consider extending call center hours, offering payment reminders via text, or creating other payment options to make the collection process easier on everyone. Especially your staff.
5) It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, but the day’s not over yet.
At the end of every day, your team should be balancing the patient ledger – double checking all cash, check and electronic payments. Unreconciled payments will increase the risk for payments posted to the patient’s ledger, but not deposited in your respective bank account. This means you could lose revenue because the transactions posted are not processed successfully – and nobody wants that.