Decreasing Accounts Receivable at Your Dental Practice

As a dentist, your primary concern is providing your patients with quality dental care and excellent customer service. However, you also need to be aware of the business side of your dental practice as well, including your accounts receivable. For example, if a patient comes to your office for dental implants and you charge the patient $4,000, he or she may put around $500 down. However, the patient still leaves your office owing around $3,500!

Never allow a patient to leave your office without a solid payment plan in place. Otherwise, you may come to realize that your dental practice is functioning a lot more like a bank than anything else.

How to Decrease Accounts Receivable 

Below are a few ideas you can use when trying to decrease the accounts receivable in your dental office:

• Send Bills Early & Often – Instead of waiting 30 days to send out a bill, we recommend sending them out around 10-15 days. Additionally, make sure to include a “due by” date on the invoice. This will cause your patients to prioritize your bill over others that don’t include due dates.
• Offer Discounts for Payment in Full – Offer a special discount for patients who are able to pay at the time of service or pre-pay. You may think that this will cause your profitability to decrease a bit, but it’s nothing compared to having thousands of dollars of uncollectible accounts receivable.
• Ask for Full Payment at Check-Out – Train your staff to begin asking for payment in full at the time of service. Some people simply need to be reminded to pay in full and will do so when prompted.
• Hire a Collections Agency – Lastly, if your accounts receivable is too out of control, you may want to consider hiring an outside company to contact your patients for you. This will allow you to avoid being seen as the ‘bad guy.’

As a business owner, it’s important for you to be aware of your accounts receivable and have a plan in place to decrease these numbers. You’ll be shocked at how quickly you can take care of accounts receivable problems just by implementing the above tips.

For more tips on running your dental office smoothly, or to discuss the marketing of your dental practice, please contact Pro Dental Designs today!