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The Business side of things: New Patient, Financial Policy and CC on File System
Posted by: Brian on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 10:47 AM
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869 Reads
"You only get one chance to make a first
impression." How often have we heard that? But cliches
endure for a reason - they're often true! Here's something else
that's true: you only get one ideal chance to introduce
your policies and procedures to patients, and that's when they
are a brand new patient. As soon as a new patient becomes an existing
patient, it's more difficult to get them to adapt to a policy
"change" than if you had conveyed it to them from the
first visit.
While we're on the subject of truisms, we believe that the
most effective and efficient way of ensuring you get paid for any
dentistry not covered by an insured patient's insurance is to
have credit card information on file, with authorization to use
it if necessary. This is effective because, unless the
charge to the card is declined, you will get paid. It's efficient
because it allows you to be a lot more relaxed about the estimate
at the time of service (saving you a huge amount of time),
knowing that you'll be able to easily deal with the differences
after the claim has been paid (or denied).
Combine everything so far, and the new patient visit is the
ideal time to introduce your financial policy (which incorporates
"CC on file") to your new patients, which is the main
point of this article, and the associated Exchange Pack.
Notice I didn't say "errors" two paragraphs up, but
rather "differences." This is consistent with something
else we firmly believe: the harder you try to tell patients
exactly how much their insurance will pay, the more they'll
expect it, and the more disappointed they'll be when insurance doesn't
pay that much. Besides, it takes a LOT of work to do that, and no
matter how hard you try, you're still going to be wrong
sometimes. So why put forth all that effort?
Something else about this "CC on file" policy: don't
worry about your existing patients. They have already established
themselves as someone who pays their bills or not, and if not,
it's probably too late to start getting credit card information
from them. And if they're a good payer, you don't need the
"CC on file." So our advice is to implement this policy
only for new patients. That's all built into this Exchange Pack
and article.
The system described below takes into account all three of the
above truths, fully automating a new patient letter and financial
policy, then the gathering and periodic updating of "CC on
file" information. You can use all of it or only part of it
(but please consider using it all - the results can be
dramatic!). Also, it will easily accommodate your exceptions -
existing patients for whom you decide to get "CC on
file" info, and new patients who you decide to exempt from
the policy.
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The Business side of things: Preventing New Emergency Patients From Becoming Painful For YOU
Posted by: Brian on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 07:36 AM
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720 Reads
One of the most frequent sources of problem accounts is the
new patient emergency - they call, you squeeze them into your
schedule, get them out of pain, somehow they leave without paying
their entire balance, and then the fun begins. Statements, calls,
letters, and eventually sending them to collections. The other
side of the coin is that a new patient who comes to you in pain can
become a good patient, with a lot of dental needs and the ability
and willingness to pay for it. Your challenge is figuring out
what kind of NPE (New Patient - Emergency) you're dealing with,
in about a minute, on the phone.
Allen and Bridgett were faced with this dilemma years ago,
when the practice was young and they were very eager to get lots
of new patients. But Allen, being the astute business manager
that he is, actually wanted to make sure they got paid
for all the work Bridgett did. (What a concept!) Here's what they
started doing, and it has worked wonderfully for them, and we're
sure it will work for you, too.
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