Discover three important tasks you can automate in the Reports and Tasks Scheduler.
For busy dental office managers, the Dentrix Reports and Tasks Scheduler can be a lifesaver! Not only can it save you from having to manually run daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, but it also eliminates having to remember when or how to run certain reports in Dentrix since it’s done automatically for you.
Here are some of my favorite things that the Reports and Tasks Scheduler can do to make your life easier.
Closing the Month
The task of closing the month in Dentrix needs to be done the first of each new month, for the month prior. For example, you won’t be able to close the month of March until April 1st or after. Closing the month includes several different processes. In my opinion, the most important task is closing transactions, which is critical so that accounts will age from current to over thirty, over sixty, and over ninety days past due. Closing transactions is also what affects your practice month-to-date and year-to-date production and collection numbers and will result in those numbers being most accurate.
Another important reason to close the month in Dentrix is to reset insurance benefits. When the month is closed, this will reset the insurance maximum and deductible for all insurance plans that have that renewal month.
Applying Finance and Late Charges
For the patients who have a payment agreement set up in Dentrix and have a late payment, you can use the Task Scheduler to automatically apply a late charge. Additionally, you also have the option to apply finance charges to accounts whether the account has a payment agreement or not. Applying these charges automatically can be helpful because this could be a task that’s easily forgotten. It’s important to be consistent with your office’s billing practices so patients know when their payment is due and that if they don’t pay by the due date there will be repercussions.
Another financial task in the Task Scheduler is processing due payment agreements. You can set this task to run daily so that payment agreements with a saved credit card attached will be processed automatically on a daily basis to keep those payments consistent and cashflow steady.
Generating Reports
For those common Dentrix reports that you generate on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, use the Reports and Tasks Scheduler to generate them automatically. You can create different queues based on when you want the reports to run. For example, you can set up a queue for monthly tasks to run on the 15th of each month. By using the Task Scheduler to generate these reports automatically, you can ensure that they are run with the same filters and settings every time you generate them for accurate comparison. And it’s one less thing that you’ll have to remember! When you come into the office in the morning, those reports will be waiting in the Office Manager Batch Processor for you to review!
The Reports and Tasks Scheduler is such a useful tool in Dentrix because it saves you time having to perform tasks and generate reports manually. And it also eliminates the need for you to remember when to run reports and perform tasks (and which settings to use) because Dentrix will do it for you.
Learn More
For additional information, read the following:
- Make Sure You Complete these Tasks when Closing the Month in Dentrix
- Scheduling Finance Charges to Post Automatically
- Running Reports and Tasks on a Schedule
By Charlotte Skaggs
Certified Dentrix Trainer and The Dentrix Office Manager columnist
Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for over 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.
