Financial health is a main concern of practices. Learn how digital billing through text and email can improve profitability.
When you think about the future of your dental practice, what concerns you most? A survey by Bankers Healthcare Group asked dental practices this exact question, and the most common responses focused on one area: practice finances. In fact, the three top concerns dentists listed were “patients’ ability to pay,” “practice revenue,” and “managing practice finances.” So if payments, revenue, and finances top the list of concerns for dental providers, what’s the best way to address them? And where should you focus your efforts and resources to improve the financial health of your practice?
Some of the most promising answers to these questions revolve around billing and payments— and the proven, long-term impact they can have on revenue and profits. This is also an area where many practices have significant room for improvement. While most dental practices fully embrace the importance of investing in the latest clinical technology, many are content to get by with the same paper-based billing and payment processes or disparate billing tools not integrated directly into a practice management system.
As you consider the financial health of your practice—and the impact more modern billing and payment options can have on your bottom line—here are a few benefits of email and text billing and collections to help guide your journey towards improved efficiency and practice profitability.
Digital Billing and Collections Saves Money and Eliminates Busywork for Office Staff
Having your in-house staff print, fold, stuff, seal, stamp and mail paper billing statements to patients requires intensive time, effort and expense, especially as material, labor and postage costs continue to rise. This labor-intensive process can be financially unhealthy, particularly for businesses that operate on small profit margins. Digital billing allows you to text or email patient billing statements anytime, as many times a month as you want opposed to just monthly printed and mailed billing statements. The results? Billing processes are faster, less expensive and less labor intensive, so you save money.
As hesitant as some dental teams have been to make the switch to digital billing and payments in the past, the high demand for faster, more convenient payment options since the beginning of the pandemic has caused a rapid shift in attitudes. And after these teams make that switch, they often become some of the most outspoken advocates for going digital. That’s mostly because digital billing and payments eliminate mountains of tedious busywork and free members of your front office to focus on providing better service and patient care. With the right digital billing and payment solution, your team will never need to print or stuff another statement into an envelope or deposit another check in the bank. And because digital payments post automatically to the patient ledger the moment they come in, all that manual payment management and data entry disappears.
Online Billing = Convenient Patient Payment Options and Improved Cash Flow
Digital payment options, paying for dental services has become as easy and convenient as ordering from an online store. After their visit, your patients receive an email or text message from your practice. They click or tap to view their statement and pay their bill online using whatever method they prefer. No more waiting days for paper statements to show up in the mail. No more writing and sending paper checks. Your patients always get a fast, convenient payment experience that’s consistent with their new digital habits and preferences, and that translates directly into increased satisfaction and loyalty. And more importantly, digital billing facilitates faster payments and improves practice profitability.
Dentrix QuickBill Premium – Your All-In-One Digital Billing and Payments System
Online billing in Dentrix can be done easily, quickly and inexpensively. It saves you money and is a time-saver for office staff. Plus, when you give patients a convenient way to pay, they are more likely to pay promptly. This accelerates cash flow to your practice by eliminating the extra days and weeks you’d wait for less convenient payment processes.
If you’re already using Dentrix software, you have an easy path to start billing and collecting digitally with QuickBill Premium. The QuickBill Premium solution provides Dentrix dental practices with the ability to notify patients of a balance due via email and/or text message. Patients can view their statements without having to remember usernames or passwords. Then they can pay the balance conveniently from their mobile phones, which post automatically to the Dentrix Ledger.
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