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A suggestion from a dentist regarding computer back-up

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I suggest dentists schedule a computer crash simulation on a regular basis (say every 2 months.) Much like monthly or quarterly staff meetings, it is important to know that one’s backup is in fact working and that another machine has the necessary hardware/software to run as the server and that someone in the office knows how to restore the program from the backup.

My office did this some months ago and had to call our support people to help out. It went smoothly (done on a non-patient care day). When I asked the support team if anyone had ever done a crash simulation before they said, “NO, Usually, we just get the panic calls and then have to sort it all out.

Have any of you done this recently?

Ask for Payment Over the Counter

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Situation:

Accounts receivable is more than one month of production and too little is collected at the time of service, impacting cash flow and bill payment.  The cost of billing patients is high and takes a great deal of time

Desired Result:

Increase same day of service collections so that 20-40% of the accounts receivable is current collections.  Therefore if you had $100,000 in total accounts receivable, $20,000 to $40,000 is less than 30 days old.

How To:

Prepare for today’s patients by understanding their insurance and calculating their anticipated co-payment.

-“Today’s visit was $357, your portion is $112, will you be taking care of that with cash, check or credit card”

  • PAUSE and ALLOW THE PATIENT TO RESPOND
  • Notice we did not suggest saying “would you like to pay with cash, check, or credit card.”  Don’t ask a question you might not like the answer to – the patient could potentially say “no I would prefer not to pay today”.
  • Be prepared for your practice’s common objections. One we frequently hear is:

–“Just send me a bill, I’ll pay after insurance pays.”

Here are Some Suggestions:

“For our patients who are fortunate to have dental insurance benefits, we submit your insurance claim at the time of service, at no cost to you.  For those that request we receive payment for their portion after insurance has paid, we require a credit or debit card on file.”

“Most insurance companies make payment to us within 30 days.  The balance, not paid by your dental benefits, will be billed to your credit card once we receive insurance payment.  In all cases, as the patient, you will receive an explanation of benefits (E.O.B.) before our practice.  This will inform you of the portion not covered by your dental benefits.  We will mail you a copy of your credit card receipt when we bill your card.”

“If we have not received payment from your insurance company within 45 days we will call you to get involved with us in collecting from your insurance company.  If for some reason we have not received payment from your insurance company 60 days (2 months) after the date of your receipt of services, we will bill your credit card for the full amount.”

“If you would like to handle payment after insurance has paid, let’s complete this paperwork.”

Have the patient complete a form with the necessary information to bill their credit or debit card.  If you would like a sample form, contact us and we will be happy to send you one.

Dentists are Dangerous?? What do you think of this article? Are your patients reading things like this?

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Dentists are Dangerous
by Patricia Aiken

An internist at Kaiser Permanente offered the following explanation after drawing two semi-circles on the examination table paper. “This represents your mouth” pointing to the first semi-circle. “We don’t know much about it. We pretty much leave it to the dentists. This is the rest of your body,” pointing to the other semi-circle. “This is what we know about.” How convenient. 60 to 80 percent of health is determined by what is going on in the mouth and mainstream medicine doesn’t have a clue or, more accurately, doesn’t want a clue. They are making too much money on the result. Continue reading “Dentists are Dangerous?? What do you think of this article? Are your patients reading things like this?” →

Do your hygienists have a valid license?

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I wanted to share some important information from a colleague about an expired hygiene license.

I just had a client casually check the website of his local state board and found that his full time hygienist’s license had not been renewed for TWO years. She will now have to retake the state board exam! The other part time hygienist’s license had expired in February 2009. In both cases he has hygienist’s working for him with no license! It remains to be seen what type of penalty he will incur because of this. Of course I advised him to lay both of them off immediately until the license issue is resolved. Continue reading “Do your hygienists have a valid license?” →

He Said, She Said: Gender Communications at Work

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By Beth Banks Cohn and Roz Usheroff

At work, men and women use strategies in communicating with each other that the opposite sex may view negatively. Often, misunderstandings can be avoided when coworkers look beyond personalities and consider the different ways men and women communicate.

Let’s look at a few examples from both sides. Continue reading “He Said, She Said: Gender Communications at Work” →

Personnel Policy Manual

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If you don’t have a clear and expertly drafted Personnel Policy Manual, then you are attempting to build your team on quicksand. Today’s employment law is a legal minefield and you must have a policy manual that is fair for all employees and that you follow (no special treatment for “special” team members). Just one wrong word, from a set of policies that you copied from someone else or downloaded, can have serious monetary consequences. This is way too easy to do right. We recommend Bent Ericksen and Associates Personnel Policy Manual. This is an easy way to establish fair policies for all your team members and to be compliant with your state regulations (which in some cases take precedence to the federal government’s regulations) as well as ensuring compliance with the federal regulations. A significant benefit of going with a company that researches employee policy daily is they stay on top of the changes. If you are not already using their information, ask us about it, it really is the most comprehensive we have found out there. No one wants to believe an employee will leave their employment and sue the Doctor and the practice, but it happens.