Most dental care providers understand that collecting payment when presenting dental patient financing options is the key to cutting down on accounts receivable. After all, your dental practice is in the business of providing dental care, not credit.

However, patients tend to treat their dentists as credit providers instead of seeking patient financing services. In turn, most dental practices allow late payments because they don’t want to lose patients. When this happens, you will find that patients frequently walk out the door after receiving treatment with no payment plan in place to settle the outstanding amount.

The sections below discuss how to collect money from past-due accounts.

Formulate and Implement a Financial Policy

Before providing dental treatment, the patient should agree to your practice’s financial policy. This agreement should outline the acceptable payment types and the payment responsibilities of cash, check, credit card, and insurance patients. The agreement should also state when your office expects the payment. You can use digital forms from Dental Intelligence to allow for an easy way for patients to review and sign your financial policy.

Implement a Payment Collection System

Your dental practice can implement any collection system for pursuing unpaid invoices, provided that it complies with your state’s laws.

Under most dental offices’ payment policies, a patient account is due within 30 days. Under your financial policy, payments can also be due before the patient’s next dental appointment.

When the payment becomes due, your office should call the patient or send them a message to notify them that their account is overdue. Your team should document all communication with the patient and include the date and time of follow-up calls. Follow Ups allows team members to easily track which patients have past-due accounts and mark their call attempts.

Set a threshold amount for these notifications so that you don’t need to contact patients who owe small amounts, which can end up wasting valuable time and money. Most practices only contact patients owing $100 or more.  

You can also send a notification before the payment becomes due. For example, suppose you receive the explanation of benefits (EOB) letter 20 days after providing treatment. In this case, you can send the EOB letter and the first notice letter to the patient.

Once the payment becomes due, you can send the second notice letter or call the patient to notify them that their payment is due. Some dental practices send up to four notice letters.

Suppose the patient doesn’t pay the account within a specific period after receiving the fourth and final notice. In that case, you can refer the account to the collections attorney or agency for legal action.

The more frequently you bill, the more effective you can expect your collection process to be. For example, you can bill on a net-10 or a net-15 basis instead of waiting 30 days.

When contacting a patient, use the communication method they prefer, such as mail, text, or phone. Consider using Dental Intelligence Payments to allow for an easy collection process where patients can pay via text or email. That way they don’t have to mail a check or make a phone call.

If the patient settles the amount at any point during the collections process, send them a zero-balance letter indicating that you received the payment.

As a business owner, you can implement any collections process that complies with the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).  

You should implement the same process for all past-due accounts. Extending a special courtesy to some patients can significantly affect your accounts receivable management.

Offer Flexible Payment Options

The longer a payment is due, the more challenging it becomes to collect. Offering flexible payment options can make settling the amount easier for the patient. These financing options include a payment plan, financing, or a membership program.

At Dental Intelligence, we offer a dental financing solution in partnership with Wisetack, which makes the collection easier for you and your patients.

Our patient financing options allows you to receive the funds in your bank account, while Wisetack settles the account with the patient over time. In other words, you provide a flexible payment option without assuming any risk.

Schedule a demo with Dental Intelligence today to learn how to collect money from past-due accounts.