Making It Easy to Manage Cash Flow in the Practice

 ,, ,Making It Easy to Manage Cash Flow in the Practice, ,For many dental practices, cash flow can be one of the biggest obstacles in the way of long-term financial success. If cash flow fluctuates too much, it can cause practices to periodically run into the red, which not only causes monumental stress, but can prevent dentists from running their offices efficiently and even expecting the kind of retirement they were planning if it becomes a serious or chronic problem., ,Although the business aspect of running a practice is not in every dentist’s wheelhouse, it is imperative to always have a handle on the financial health of the business. To be the most successful, they must dedicate time to regularly analyze cash flow and work on their budget. Familiarity with the income and expenditures, and focusing on other financial concerns like predicting quarterly cash flow and building up a cash reserve for emergencies or occasional shortfalls will help dentists be more profitable., ,Often, the culprit in a cash flow problem is patients who are slow to pay or actually never do. It is very important for patients to understand the office’s payment and credit policies, and pay for services rendered. If past-due bills fall through the cracks in a busy practice, patients who are delinquent need to be contacted repeatedly or they may never respond., ,It is important to have a variety of payment options and to let patients (even inactive ones) know in advance what they are. Directing electronic and credit card payments directly into the practice bank account eliminates the waiting period some forms of payment take. Allowing patients to pay by credit card at the front desk or on your website will speed the process up and boost cash flow. Offering third-party financing so patients can pay over time takes the pressure off the staff, and also enables patients to agree to extended treatments they might not otherwise be able to, such as elective restorative procedures., ,Practice management software is the simplest answer to monitoring and maintaining control of the financial health of a dental practice., ,XLDent has been offering practice management software solutions to the dental community since 1971. Their focus on digital workflows takes the paperwork and most of the physical functions out of many mundane but important practice operations, including electronic claim processing and claim status, eligibility and benefits verification, electronic remittance, and patient credit card payments, saving staff hours of frustration and repetitive tasks., ,XLDent electronic claim processing is a web-based service that streamlines claim submissions, payment, and assessing claim status. The software can quickly verify if procedure claims are valid and complete before submitting them, reducing claim rejections and the associated additional work hours. Electronic submission expedites insurance payments. And tracking claims is easy with one click, versus a call to the company or waiting for claim status to come by mail., ,The real-time eligibility and benefits verification feature connects users to commercial and government payers. Users can verify individual patient’s eligibility more quickly and accurately via the software than can be done by phone., ,Another built-in feature is electronic remittance advice (ERA), the electronic version of an EOB. Payer remittance information can be searched and automatically match payments to claims. This feature can also be used to speed up submission of secondary claims and patient billing. ERA offers a practical way to eliminate human error and automatically store remittance information in the digital patient record, where it can be quickly accessed., ,For patients using electronic payments, XLDent has partnered with a healthcare-specific payment processing firm to make the process of credit, debit, or ACH transactions seamless. Offering this payment option increases cash flow by collecting payment at the time of service. It can also be set up for automatic payments and payment plans, to further save both patients and staff time and hassle., ,Taking some of the drudgery, potentially confusing, and time-consuming steps out of the equation and replacing them with XLDent’s digital workflows and electronic solutions will result in better record keeping, simpler processes, and more peace of mind when it comes to cash flow management and its impact on the dental practice.