As a dentist, your top priority is your patients, and you don’t want cash flow worries affecting your patient care. But you are not only a dentist, you are also a business owner — and cash flow is increasingly a big concern for many businesses right now. According to a recent poll of 22,000 small business owners, 83% are stressed and anxious about fear of bankruptcy, compared to 69% a month ago.
Managing your money well is more important than ever in this current economic climate of decreasing revenue. Here are four specific principles of money management that can help you bounce back strong:
1. Collect Payment at Time of Service
Your practice management system can help you give patients payment options, which lets you collect payments at the time of service, saves time for your staff and protects your practice against lost payments — all of which improve cash flow.
2. Automate Billing and Collections
When you send electronic submissions directly to the insurance company, you can see exactly how much a patient owes after insurance processing before they leave your office. When patient billing statements are automatically produced and sent directly from your practice management software, you save time and money — helping to maintain your cash flow.
3. Manage Insurance Claims Efficiently
Electronic claims submission creates more effective workflows that are time and money savers. Use your practice management system to capture all the information needed to file claims, collect copayments, and automatically generate and electronically send insurance claims often — resulting in cash continuing to steadily flow.
4. Understand Your Practice’s Numbers
Effectively managing your business requires that you know your key performance indicators (KPIs). A robust practice management software not only tracks the right KPIs (and lets you customize which ones you want to see to run your business), it also automatically connects your clinical-financial workflow, which saves time for staff and helps ensure you get paid — and helps keep cash flowing.
Henry Schein One has practice management solutions to help dental practices keep revenue flowing even in difficult times. To learn more about how you can improve your cash flow, download our eBook “Practice Management Bootcamp — Session 1: Managing Practice Money,” or request a consultation to talk with Dentrix revenue management experts.
