Why don't my reports show the same numbers . . . grrrrrr!

“I have pulled up three different reports trying to find out what my accounts receivable number is and they all have different numbers,” says Nichole from a client office in New York. Renee from a different office states, “I have a patient who has a $6,000 balance and she has never received a statement and she did not show up on my collection report.” Sound familiar? I know these situations can be frustrating and it is easy to blame the software for differences in reporting. However, I want to take you through a few check points to make sure you are getting similar data on different reports and also walk you through what is different on reports.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that my favorite report for managing your accounts receivable is the CollectionManager. There are some things to know about the Collection Manager Report . . .

• This report only shows positive accounts receivable so if you are trying to compare it to an Aging Report or the Practice Analysis snapshot, you will not get the same numbers. The Aging Report can be filtered to show all balances, positive balances or credits, and, if you have a lot of credit balances, these two reports could show very different bottom line numbers.
• The Collection Manager can be filtered down a lot to give you a very specific report or a very broad report and, depending on how you are matching it up to another A/R report, if you don’t select the same parameters, you will get different numbers.

If you are looking at the snapshot Practice Analysis report (Office Manager > Analysis > Practice), then you will also get a different ending balance depending on a few things . . .

• This snapshot is affected by month end so, depending on if you are up to date with month end, will determine how accurate this number is and if it will match up to any other A/R report.
• This Analysis snapshot cannot be filtered by billing type … so if you have balances in billing types like “Sent to Collection,” this will affect this number.
• This report is only run by Entry Date (you cannot change this). If you are running any of the other A/R reports by Procedure Date, then you will get different numbers.

Most of the accounts receivable and collection management reports can be filtered by different parameters to give you different numbers. Here are the most common troubleshooting tips to check if you are matching up reports.

• Did you select the same providers?
• Did you select the same billing types?
• Did you choose Entry Date or Procedure Date?
• What aging category did you select?
• Are you selecting the same date range or ending date?
• Were there any other boxes that were checked that might have filtered out a particular patient from one report over another? In the first paragraph, I had an office questioning why a particular patient did not show up on the Collection Manager Report. It was because she had checked “If not billed since” on the filters so this particular patient had been excluded.

Hopefully this will help you understand how different each report is and why they might give you different numbers. Numbers tell a story and it is important to have as accurate report as possible.

Accurate Family Balance or Accurate Patient Balance . . . you choose

In my last post, I talked about the fact that I love how many things in Dentrix can be customized to fit the needs of the practice, from the toolbars to colors on the patient chart. In addition to visual customizations, you can also change the way payments are handled in the ledger as they are applied to the providers and specific patients. You would think that every office would want to handle payments and track collections the same, but this is not the case. Many offices I work with find it is easier to post all the payments to the guarantor and the primary provider, but many offices are very particular about itemizing out the payment to the rendering providerand the specific patient ledger. However your practice handles payments, I think it would be a good time to help you understand how each allocation method affects your patient ledgers.

If you want to walk through it with me, go to your Office Manager > Maintenance > Preferences, under the General Options tab in the upper left area is the Default Payment/Adjustment Allocation settings.

• ·        Provider
• Split by Provider will separate out the patient payment to pay off each producing provider. Your insurance claims already do this … so why not split the personal payments as well?
• To Patients Primary Provider will apply the entire personal payment to the patient’s primary provider (PROV1 on family file) regardless of who the producing provider is. This decision will give too much collections to one provider and, if you run a Provider A/R report, the payments and accounts receivable will be lopsided.
• ·        Patient
•  Family account will post the entire payment to the guarantor. The result of doing this will be an accurate family balance, but incorrect patient balances.
• Current patient will post the personal payment only to the patient ledger you are logged onto currently.
• Split by Family Members is a new feature with G6. It allows you to take one payment and distribute it out to multiple family members with one step. The result of doing this will be more accurate patient balances because it looks across the entire family account for patients with a balance. PLEASE NOTE: if you have archived a patient with a balance and you are using this new feature, it will pull that patient out of archive to apply a payment.
• ·Split Method
• Percentage Payments will equally distribute the patient payment between any providers who has a balance.
• FIFO (first in first out) will pay off the oldest provider balance first.
• Guarantor Estimate is always my first choice. What this allocation method will do is look at any current treatment with an insurance claim pending and allocate the patient payment depending on the insurance estimate. After it has allocated the payment to the estimated patient portion of the claim, it will revert to FIFO.
• Equal payments is very similar to the percentage payments method but will just split the payment into equal payments instead of a percentage.

Why does one office choose an allocation method over another? Well, it depends on how you track collections and how important it is to you to have accurate patient ledgers. I want you to choose the method that fits your practice that is why there are lots of choices. Email me directly if you want to discuss this one-on-one.

Two options to help you manage your accounts receivable

I recently created an online course called “Show me the Money,” which ties in perfectly to today’s article. As you may have figured out, my online course is all about accounts receivable. Managing your accounts receivable takes into account many factors, including the new patient phone call, treatment planning, follow up, and collection letters. One thing you can do to manage your accounts receivable is to create the appropriate payment plan when needed. There are two different types of payment plans in Dentrix that can help you with the management of your accounts receivable.

The Payment Agreement is one type of payment plan in Dentrix. Use this if patients have already completed their treatment and have an existing balance you want to extend for a period of time. Entering in the payment agreements into Dentrix will help you manage your accounts in three huge ways.

1. If you have read my articles about patient collections, you know that I use the Collection Manager Report for managing accounts receivable. This report allows you to enter columns of information that will show you Payment Agreement Balance, Payment Agreement Amount Due, and # of missed payments. Having this information at your fingertips can be extremely helpful on this report because you don’t have to do any research about the account balance. You can see that the patient is on a payment plan and if he or she is current with payments. Read More . . . on the Collection Manager Report.
2. When you create a Payment Agreement, it will light up the Payment Agreement Summary section on the Ledger so anyone who opens the ledger will see that the account is on a payment plan as well as the status of the payments. If there are missed payments, this will show up in red in the Past Due section. This will be extremely helpful if the financial coordinator is on vacation and relying on other team members to collect money at the time of service or field phone calls.
3. When you send billing statements, if you have entered in the Payment Agreement, it will accurately reflect the amount due from the family. The billing statement will show the total account balance and, in the PLEASE PAY THIS AMOUNT box, it will show the agreed payment amount. Also, if the patient has missed a payment, the billing statement will show a past due amount at the top of the statement to draw attention to this missed payment. If you are not using this feature, you might be writing on the statement … and that takes more time out of your schedule.

The second option for setting up a payment plan is using the Future Due Payment Plan feature. Use this when the patient is going to incur charges over a period of time in the future, such as orthodontic treatment. The Future Due Payment Plan helps you manage your accounts receivable in three ways as well.

1. In a similar manner as discussed above, you can filter your Collection Manager Report to search for patients with a FDPP so you can focus on those accounts and see if any of these accounts have missed a payment.
2. When you create a FDPP, it will remove the balance out of your accounts receivable and bill it out at increments you decide on. For example, if a patient is going to schedule a $5,000 12-month ortho treatment and put $1,500 down, then you can set up the payment plan to “hide” the $3,500 and bill out $291.66 each month automatically. Additionally, you can set it up so it will automatically create an insurance claim to go out to the insurance company as well.
3. Finally, you can print out a coupon book if the patient would like a reminder for their payments.

If you would like more information on my online course titled “Show me the Money” . . . CLICK HERE.

Business of Dentistry . . . why it's my favorite conference of the year

It’s that time of year. It’s time to get your doctor and your team registered for the Business of Dentistry Conference. As you have heard me talk about before, I have never missed a conference and I am going to give you 5 reasons you and your team should not miss it either. This year's conference is being held Oct 7th - 10th in sunny Florida.

 

1. You will be repeating the words “I didn’t know Dentrix could do that! I can’t believe how we are under-utilizing our practice management software.” Even if you have been using Dentrix for over 10 years, I can guarantee you will learn things that you didn’t know existed. Last year, I taught the advanced Billing and Collections class and my class was filled with doctors excited to learn how the software could help their practices meet production goals. It was eye-opening.
2. There is something to learn for every member of your team. Especially the dentist!  This year the Business of Dentistry is offering more clinical technique and technology courses than ever before.   The Dentrix courses have a skill level from entry level to advanced so the attendees can choose the level that best fits their knowledge of the software. This conference attracts some of the most sought-after consultants and they tailor their presentations to fit into the Dentrix agenda so you not only get amazing practice management educational material but you also get tips on how to implement it into your practice management software.  Check out the course listing by CLICKING HERE.
3. Don’t miss the Learning Lab. This is my favorite part of the Business of Dentistry Conference. This is where you get to bring your questions and sit down with a knowledgeable support tech and get one-on-one help. If you are having issues with Dentrix, eServices, Easy Dental, or Enterprise, bring it to the Learning Lab. Here’s a tip: Take screen shots and print them out so you can show the team your issue (make sure you black out any patient information).
4. Learn about third-party software that integrates with your Dentrix software. The vendors pour out into the hallways just waiting to tell you how their product, along with your Dentrix software, can help your practice more profitable, secure, or productive. Since Dentrix G5 opened up the Marketplace, there are many third-party companies that enhance your software in so many ways. I will have a booth at this year's conference so come by say Hi and check out what I have to offer you and your team. 
5. Finally . . . have some fun and enjoy spending time with your team! This year’s conference is being held at the amazing Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in sunny Kissimmee, Florida.  Henry Schein always brings the fun to this conference. I can remember bowling parties and dance parties that were off the charts. I can’t wait to see what this year has to offer.

Are all your insurance claims being sent out?

A couple of weeks ago, I gave some recommendations on your Daily, Weekly, and Monthly management routines and today’s article definitely should have been put into the Weekly routine. Do you ever wonder if all your insurance claims are being sent out in a timely manner … or even being sent out at all? This tool in Dentrix will screen all your charges and make sure they are batched up to send out just in case you got distracted and missed a couple. Most dental offices I work with batch up the claims on the ledger as the patient is checking out and this is why I think this feature is so important.

From the Office Manager, there is an icon at the top of the toolbar with a big INS on it. If you hover over it, it says “Create Batch Primary Dental Insurance Claims.” When you click on this icon, it will open a new window where you can select a date range, provider, and select whether or not you want to send out claims with procedures with a $0 amount. As soon as you click OK, it will search for all procedures that have been posted and not sent to insurance. It will give you a total and send them all to the Batch Processor.

Now you might have several claims that get created (I was in an office recently that had 109 for a three-month period). What I would recommend is that you run this on a weekly basis so hopefully you only have a few to sort through. Sometimes there is a reason why the claim is not being sent to insurance.

If you already use this feature in Dentrix . . . great job!

Best Practices for your team . . . daily

I have written many articles in my blog about all the different reports you should be looking at and the different statistics that are important to keep your eye on … but what is the “best practice” for these reports? Who should be looking at them and when? In the next three weeks, my goal is to give a guideline for these questions. I will be breaking it down into a daily, weekly, and monthly format and what each team member should be monitoring in his or her department.

This first week of the series, we are going to start with what you need to be looking at on a daily basis. 

·        Front Office or Back Office – Someone on the team needs to be looking at the daysheet and matching it up to what was scheduled for the day. This can be the office manager looking at the whole day or break it up with the dental assistant and hygienists looking at their own column of patients. You are looking to make sure that every patient who came in had the correct procedures posted and that nothing else was accidently set as “complete.”

·        Back Office – The clinical team needs to make sure that there was a clinical note written for every patient you saw in your chair that day. If you are chartless, the easiest way to do this is to filter the view with completed work and clinical notes in the patient chart on the progress notes tab. For more on this, CLICK HERE for more information.

·        Office Manager – There are a couple of management statistics I would check on a daily basis because it will make reviewing the monthly numbers a whole lot easier if you have monitored it throughout the month. All these numbers can be found on the Daily Huddle Report, CLICK HERE for more information.

o   New Patients – Make sure every new patient who is entered has a referral source so your doctor knows how the patients are finding his or her office. Also, this is a good time to write out your thank you notes to referral sources and your new patients.

o   Case Acceptance – How much was diagnosed vs. how much was scheduled? If this is low, check to see if the treatment plan was scheduled and not marked as completed.

o   Collections - If collections for the day were low, why?

o   Production – Are you on track for the month?

If you look at these numbers on a daily basis, then you will have a much better chance for success of meeting your monthly goals. You also have time to make adjustments in your schedule and systems if you don’t wait to the last minute.

Challenge yourself to become a Dentrix Master and get recognized on the Wall of Fame

This is your year to become the best you can be in your career.  Challenge yourself to become a Dentrix master.  Join me on the Wall of Fame as I post up your accomplishments on my blog all throughout 2015.   CLICK HERE to start your success.

Watch my video to hear all the details . . .

 Wall of Fame



CONGRATULATIONS!
You are a Dentrix Master









Let's do some goal setting for 2015

What’s on your agenda for December?  Decorating the office for the upcoming holidays, getting the thank you cards out to your referring doctors, or how about planning for 2015?  My vote is to do some goal setting for 2015 and let your Dentrix software help you.  Set up a meeting with your doctor, accountant or financial advisor for the practice and set your office goals for production, collection and new patients, then enter these goals in Dentrix so you can easily track your numbers.

There are a couple of places in Dentrix to help you manage your goals for the practice.  First, let’s set up your production goals so you can watch them on the appointment book and schedule appropriately.  Go to the Office Manager > Analysis > Practice > Setup > Goals, this is where you can enter your provider production goals for each month.  If your doctor has given you the daily goal, just multiply this by the total number of days worked to get the monthly goal.  Click on the >> next to the provider and select the first provider to enter goals for, then click on Read Selected Goals and it will list any goals you have already entered. If this is for a new year, it will be empty.  Then click Add and select 1 for January, 2 for February, and so on.

Next, go to the appointment book and click on View > edit or new > add in the providers you have entered goals for in the upper left area and click on View Amount. This will show you how much scheduled production you have on your books for that day.  Back on the appointment book, click on the monthly calendar in the upper left and click on Scheduled Production. Here you can see your scheduled production, monthly goal you just entered, and the variance.  This is simple way to track your monthly production goal.

Another place these production goals show up is the Daily Huddle Report.  This report is amazing!  Here are other blog posts on the Daily Huddle Report:

Your Daily Motivation

5 Minute Morning Huddle

Once you have your goals for production, collection and new patients, you can enter these as benchmarks for the Practice Advisor Report.  This report will give you a more comprehensive analysis of your numbers and give you some guidelines if you need to improve your office stats.  To enter your goals into the Practice Advisor Report, go to the Office Manager > Analysis > Practice Advisor > Practice Advisor Setup > Benchmarks Setup >. To enter your benchmarks, give a range for each category with your office goal being somewhere in the middle.  For example, if your total office production goal is $100k, then your benchmark would be $90k - $110k.  

Continue entering in the benchmarks for your practice and then use the Practice Advisor Report as a monthly monitoring tool.  For more information on this report, click the links below for other blog posts.

Your own personal practice management consultant . . .

The 5 stats every office should monitor

Create more cash flow

One of my favorite and most challenging jobs I ever held in the dental practice was Financial Coordinator. Not only was I responsible for maintaining a healthy Accounts Receivable, but also creating financial systems that were effective, efficient, and manageable. After working in the dental practice for more than 20 years, I am super excited to now teach these systems to you.

If you and your team will be attending The Business of Dentistry Conference this year, I will be teaching some of the systems I developed and have implemented into many dental practices. If you want a sneak peak into the courses I will be teaching, keep reading.

 

 

Even out the cash flow

Do you dread the day that you have to run statements? The mountain of paper that sits on your desk for three to four days while you sort through it, piece by piece, writing personalized messages or stamping a page with color-coded stickers to draw attention to the fact that the balance is past due. On top of that, the entire following week is spent fielding phone calls from patients with questions about their bills. Sound familiar? What if you could do away with this archaic routine? Well, listen closely … because I am about to tell you how. CLICK HERE to continue reading

Show me the money

Each week, I am amazed at how many offices I visit that not only are not using the Collections Manager Report, but don’t even know what it is. When I am working with an office on its collection routine, I always ask, “What are you currently using for your collection calls?” The typical answers are, “The Aging Report” or “The billing statements.” Crazy I say! CLICK HERE to continue reading

The Business of Dentistry Conference is only a month away and it is not too late to join me in my two classes and register for some of the other amazing learning opportunities that are available. CLICK HERE to be directed to the registration page.

 

It's only an estimate, so make it as accurate as possible

Are you looking for a more accurate way to accommodate the difference that the insurance company calculates for posterior composites? What about the fact that perio maintenance is in the perio category but is usually paid at 100%? Would you like to be able to give your patients a more accurate out-of-pocket estimate? If so, then using the Payment Table will make you very happy. 

The Payment Table overrides the Coverage Table so it is perfect for those procedure codes that fall outside of the default coverage table. Here are some examples:

• Posterior Composite Downgrades – most insurance companies do not pay for composite fillings placed in molars, but they will pay for the equivalent of an amalgam filling. For example, you would take the fee for the D2140 (1 surface posterior amalgam code) and multiply this fee by the coverage %. Then in the Payment Table you would enter the D2391 (1 surface posterior composite code) and enter the fee you just calculated. This amount will override the coverage % and give your patient a more accurate estimate. I have seen some offices create a little “cheat sheet” in Microsoft Word for all the downgrade coverage and save it to the desktop for easy access.
• Nightguards (D9940) – they are located in the Adjunctive category, which is typically covered at 80%. However, in my experience with nightguards, they are usually paid at 50% or 0%. 
• Perio Maintenance (D4910) – this code is in the periodontal category which is typically covered at 80%. However, the D4910 Perio Maintenance is usually covered at 100% like a prophy.
• Crown Lengthening (D4249) – this code is also in the periodontal category. However, in my experience, it is covered at the same percentage as a crown (50%).
• Onlays – In the Dentrix default categories in the Coverage Table, they have onlays grouped in with the Basic Restorative at 80%. However, onlays are covered just like a crown at 50%. Instead of moving around your coverage table groupings, you can just add onlays to the Payment Table.

The Payment Table can be updated manually by going to the patient’s family file or the Office Manager > Maintenance > Reference > Insurance Maintenance and clicking on the Payment Table, or you can update the Payment Table while entering in insurance payments. If you are using the Fee Schedule Method and attaching fee schedules to the insurance plans, do not use the update payment table during insurance payment entry for your contracted plans unless it is one of the exceptions listed above. Only update the payment table during insurance payments for insurance companies with which you are not contracted. 

If you are unsure if you are using the Fee Schedule Method or you want more information on fee schedules, click below to read more on fee schedules.

Fee Schedules, the method of choice for PPO plans

Fee Schedules - your questions answered

Get the info out of your head and into the computer

When you have worked in the same dental practice for many years, you have a tendency to store a lot of information in your head, right? I find that is especially true when it comes to your accounts receivable. Being a financial coordinator in the practice, it is your responsibility to know the status of the accounts … but so often when I am teaching on collections, I hear, “Oh, I just know this family is making payments” or “The doctor said it was OK for him to make payments”. What if this information was in your practice management software so you could easily manage it? What if this information was in your practice management software so you, the financial coordinator, could take a vacation and not worry about someone else managing the accounts receivable while you were gone? What if your patient’s billing statement reflected his or her agreed payment arrangement? This can all be a reality.

Using the Dentrix Payment Agreement feature allows you to get the information out of your head and into your practice management system where it belongs. If your office accepts payments (even if your office does not accept payments, patients often slip into a payment plan out of necessity), this information will streamline your collections.

Entering in the payment agreements into Dentrix will help you manage your accounts in three huge ways.

1. If you have read my articles about patient collections, you know that I use the Collection Manager Report for managing accounts receivable. This report allows you to enter columns of information that will show you Payment Agreement Balance, Payment Agreement Amount Due, and # of missed payments. Having this information at your fingertips can be extremely helpful on this report because you don’t have to do any research about the account balance. You can see that the patient is on a payment plan and if he or she is current with payments. Read More . . . on the Collection Manager Report.
2. When you create a Payment Agreement, it will light up the Payment Agreement Summary section on the Ledger so anyone who opens the ledger will see that the account is on a payment plan and the status of the payments. If there are missed payments, this will show up in red in the Past Due section. This will be extremely helpful if the financial coordinator is on vacation and relying on other team members to collect money at the time of service or field phone calls.
3. When you send billing statements, if you have entered in the Payment Agreement, it will accurately reflect the amount due from the family. The billing statement will show the total account balance and, in the PLEASE PAY THIS AMOUNT box, it will show the agreed payment amount. Also, if the patient has missed a payment, the billing statement will show a past due amount at the top of the statement to draw attention to this missed payment. If you are not using this feature, you might be writing on the statement, which takes more time out of your schedule.

 

Use the features that Dentrix has to offer. Get the information out of your head and into the computer. Let the computer do the work for you and free yourself from being the keeper of information. I realize that being the keeper of the information might sound like job security, but it holds you back from pursuing other adventures like going on vacation, taking on new roles in the practice, or training new employees.

3 Ways to Improve Cash Flow

I remember when my family relocated to a new city and I applied for a job at a dental practice closer to home. This practice had been open for a little more than a year and seemed to be thriving. However, as the months went by, I realized that this practice had no systems in place … and it was especially noticeable in the collections. After about three months, the doctor told me that that month was the first month since the practice opened that he was able to draw a paycheck. This was a collection problem. Over my 20 years of experience in the dental office, I have learned that collecting money is a task that all financial coordinators will master in their careers, but achieving cash flow is an even greater skill to master. We all strive to achieve a collection rate of 98% of our production so when we have that monthly team meeting to review the numbers, we can sit glowing at our accomplishment. However, as a practice owner, improving the cash flow can be a much bigger achievement. It is vitally important for every dental practice to create systems that will significantly improve cash flow, even if collections aren’t increased.

Read more . . .

2014 New Year's Resolution - credit balance cleanup

My 2014 New Year’s Resolutions continue for all the office managers who are looking to clean up their databases. My last two blog posts were how to clean up duplicate insurance companies and duplicate or unused Medical Alerts. Check both of those articles out.

Today we are going to tackle the issue of allocating payments properly on the Ledger and fixing the provider credits. In Dentrix, you can apply payments to the patient and allocate the payment to the different providers. However, most practices do not split the payments accordingly and then the patient balances and the provider A/R is not accurate. To fix the patient’s ledgers can be bit of a project, but, if this is one of your 2014 New Year’s Resolutions, here is how you do it.

First, you need to tell the computer how you want to allocate the balances. Go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Preferences. Here are your default choices:

1. Guarantor’s Provider – Generically assigns all payments as if they go to the Guarantor’s PROV1 choice in Family File, whether or not that provider did any work for the patient or family receiving the payment.
2. Split Payment, Percentage – If the doctor did 75% of the work and the hygienist did 25% (based on production dollar value), the payment is divided into two payments, paying the providers 75/25. Not the best choice because insurance may later pay the same providers for those services, creating imbalances.
3. Split Payment, FIFO – FIFO is “First In, First Out” and attempts to pay the oldest debt first, paying providers until money runs out. Not the best choice because insurance may later pay the same providers for those services, creating imbalances.
4. Split Payment, Guarantor/Account Estimate – Generally regarded as the best choice. This uses FIFO but also considers if there are insurance estimates. Additionally, it only pays the portion expected to be owed by the patient.
5. Split Payment, Equal Payments – If two providers did work for the patient, the money is split 50/50 between the two. Not the best choice because insurance may later pay the same providers for those services, creating imbalances.

My recommendation is #4 because this is the only one that will take into account the estimated insurance portion. Now you also must have two adjustment types that you will use to reapply the provider credit balance … one being a credit adjustment and one being a debit adjustment. If you need to create two new adjustment types, go to Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Definitions. You might already have an adjustment type called “Transfer Balance Credit” and “Transfer Balance Debit.” These will work just fine.

Next, from the Ledger go to File > Pre-Payment Options Setup, then check Enable Allocate Balance Option and then select the adjustment types. Make sure the Itemize Allocation Adjustments for Billing Statements is not checked. This will ensure the adjustments will not show up on your patient’s billing statements.

 

The report you are going to start with is called The Provider Credits Report. Go to the Office Manager > Reports > Ledger > Aging Report and check Provider Credits. This will give you a report of all your providers who have a credit balance.

Finally, from the Ledger, you can start reallocating the balances properly. When you start correcting the balances, it is recommended to correct the patient balances first then allocate to the correct provider. So if you need to transfer a credit balance from one patient to another (or several), do this first. Select the patient > click on Transaction > Allocate Credit Balance, check either Family or Patient (in the long run, Patient will be more accurate), then select the allocation method (Guar Est is the most accurate) and click OK. This will apply adjustment on the patient ledger to correct the provider balances.

 

Remember, these adjustments will not show on the billing statement as long as you have not checked it in the Allocation setup in the above instructions.

If you want more information on keeping your ledger balances correct, please refer back to a previous blog post, “Are you a stickler for accurate numbers?”

 

 

 

Better treatment plan acceptance . . . Better payment integration . . . Better Together

When you are looking for ways to improve the systems in the office, you are looking for better efficiency, more consistency, and more effectiveness because you need to see results.I use all of the Dentrix eServices because they excel in all of these areas. My team runs a very tight ship because everything revolves around the practice management software; nothing is jimmy-rigged together. This is why I am very excited about this announcement from Dentrix and its new integration with Citi Health Card patient financing.

We have been offering Citi Health Card and CareCredit for patient financing, but it is one of our office’s systems that isn’t as streamlined and efficient as I want it to be. This new integration with Dentrix and Citi Health Card is exactly what our office needs.

 

[Announcement]

Convincing patients of the need for treatment can be only half the battle. Often, the next common obstacle to obtaining treatment plan acceptance is the guarantor’s ability to pay for the treatment. Fortunately for Dentrix users, providing patient financing just got easier so more patients can say "yes" to treatment.

The Citi Health Card, with a proven history of helping providers improve treatment plan acceptance, is now integrated with Dentrix to simplify the application process, streamline payment posting and make patient financing more affordable for patients and providers.

Now when a patient requires financing, the application can be submitted with less effort, as many of the fields are prepopulated with information from Dentrix. Within minutes—or even seconds—of submitting a completed form, an electronic response tells you if the patient is approved and reports the patient’s approved credit limit, allowing you to complete the treatment plan proposal and begin scheduling.

Another benefit of the integration is automatic payment posting to the Dentrix Ledger. The charges for the treatment, up to the amount of the approved credit, can be applied to the patient account with the click of a button, eliminating manual entry and the possibility of keypunch errors.

Best of all, the Citi Health Card program provides the most flexible and affordable patient financing available. You can offer no-interest options for six, 12, 18 and 24 months or budget payment plans that fit nearly any income. And since Citi Health Card merchant fees are lower compared to industry averages , patient financing won’t compromise your practice’s profitability.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Citi Health Card and the new integration with Dentrix.

 

Throw a party with those unclaimed credit balances . . . not so fast

There is so much going on in the dental office in the fall. In September, I got my letter off to all my patients who have a treatment plan and still have unused insurance benefits. Did you? If not, CLICK HERE to point you in the right direction. This month, we have already started looking ahead to 2014 and planning out our office goals (CLICK HERE for more information on goal setting in Dentrix). Then, just this week, I sent off my annual check to the Department of Revenue for those credit balances for patients I cannot locate. What? You don’t know what the heck I am talking about? Every state has a law regarding what to do with unclaimed money. Check your state’s Department of Revenue website to find out the steps to take in order to be compliant with this rule. Since I live in Washington state, I am going to use that state’s information for today’s blog.

Let’s start from the beginning. Each July, I print a credit balance only Aging Report (this is the only time I ever print an Aging Report). The best policy is to take care of patient credit balances when they happen by applying them to the next visit, encouraging the patient to schedule treatment, or writing the patient a refund check. However, there are times when patients end up with a credit balance and you have attempted to reach them without success. In the state of Washington, these patients must receive a letter of due diligence by August 1. I created this letter in Quick Letters so it would merge in the patient’s information and balance.

After you have sent the patient a letter informing him or her of the credit balance and the date by which it needs to be collected, go through your credit balance report again and mark any patient you are going to send to the Department of Revenue, then total it up and write one hopefully not too big check. On each patient ledger, make an adjustment (I created an adjustment type called Sent to Dept of Revenue) to their account to bring their account to zero, change their billing type (I created one called Sent to Department of Revenue), then make sure their account is inactivated or archived. I created a billing type to get a report on all the accounts I have sent to the Department of Revenue and I don’t have to remember all the names.

This check to the Department of Revenue must be sent in by November 1 (state of Washington requirement). I adjust all the patient accounts on the same day, then run an Adjustment Only Daysheet to get the list of names. Next, I print a Patient List for each patient individually to send with the check. This will give the Department of Revenue the information needed to put on their unclaimed property website. To print this Patient List, go to the Office Manager > Lists > Patient List > then select each patient individually.

For those of you reading from the state of Washington, go to http://ucp.dor.wa.gov and click on “You are holding unclaimed property, report it to us.” Then click on the Detail Report form, fill out the information, total amount you are sending, and print the form. If you are reading from another state, I would search for Unclaimed Property (state name here).

Five tips on proper coding to insurance

Last week, I attended one of my favorite conferences of the year … the American Association of Dental Office Managers (AADOM) annual meeting. This conference is built specifically for office managers and is chock full of course for practice management, leadership, HR, technology, and personal growth. There were more than 600 attendees and the vendor booths spilled out into the hall.

One of the courses I attended was Dr. Charles Blair’s coding class, “Stay out of Jail – Avoid Coding Errors and Excel in Insurance Administration.” Go back to last week’s blog post and you can watch my video interview with Dr. Blair. Today, I want to give you the top five “pearls” I took away from his class.

1. Code what you do – Even if you know the insurance company is going to downgrade to a lower procedure code, make sure you are billing the insurance company the procedure that you provide to the patient. Your clinical notes and the billing should match.
2. Biopsy – Bill out the biopsy procedure at the time you receive the report back from the lab, not at the time you take the biopsy.
3. Crowns prep or seat date? – If you are in-network, you must go by their rules. If you are out of network, you can bill by your rules. Double-check with your insurance contracts. If you can bill at the prep date, then do it. I have always billed crowns out at the prep date (we are out of network for all insurance companies) because this is when we incur the majority of our costs and this is also when I want the patient to pay.
4. Bill D1110 based on dentition not age – We all know that insurance companies will not pay for an adult prophy until the age of 14, but what if your 11-year-old patient has full dentition? According to Dr. Blair, you would bill out the adult prophy and let the insurance company downgrade it.
5. D0180 … not just for the periodontist – Many general dentists do not use this code because they believe it can only be used at a specialist office, but this is not so. Your office can use this code for any patient who has risk factors (smoker, diabetic, etc.) and possibly get paid a higher fee. You must also justify using this code with a perio chart.

Dr. Blair is an expert in coding and has many resources from which your office can benefit. My favorite is the Insurance Solutions Newsletter. For more information, visit his website by CLICKING HERE.