Insurance is the patient’s responsibility. It is their insurance after all however, quickly and accurately verifying insurance is an opportunity to provide patients with excellent customer service. Staying on top of insurance every day is crucial. It is vital that insurance does not backlog. Backlogs cost you time and money and reflect poorly on your practice. When a patient receives a bill from the practice due to insurance denial it can cause an upset. Sometimes it is a front desk error, however the upset is often partially or fully due to the bill being unexpected because the patient had not been effectively educated on how...
Your hygiene department can make or break your practice, yet most hygiene departments underproduce. Here is a list of the top five concerns I've heard and questions I've been asked over the years. 1. What percentage of production should come from hygiene? The "industry standard" is 30% to 35%; however, the percentage of a practice's production that comes from hygiene will vary, as dentists have different treatment protocols, and their definition of "ideal dentistry" and "ideal hygiene care" will vary. As an example, I have one client who produces $5,000 a day and whose hygienist produces $1,200 a day. Another client...
There are four front office/front desk positions/functions. Call them what you want but they basically break down as follows: a) Receptionist b) Scheduling Secretary c) Accounts Manager d) Treatment Coordinator In a small practice one employee does them all. As a practice grows two staff handle theses jobs/functions. The natural breakdown would be to combine the four jobs/functions as follows: a) Receptionist/Scheduling Secretary b) Accounts Manager/Treatment Coordinator. In a bigger practice you might have one person for each position or some other combination such as two Receptionists, a Scheduling Coordinator and a Treatment Coordinator/Accounts Manager.
The best systems in the world are useless if the staff members do not comply. An effective leader and executive knows how to get staff to willingly follow through and comply. Key systemds: 1. New patient phone call. This is the single most important function in a practice. 2. New patient experience. This includes NPs educated on how their specific insurance works so there are no surprises for the patient if they end up with a bill. 3. Insurance accurately and quickly submitted, followed up on and collected. This includes accurate accounts and on time statements. Also firm financial policy that...
