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Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

DENTAL TRIBUNE | May 2011 Practice Matters 9A AD No. 1: Revisit the financial policy. No. 2: Maximize over-the-counter collecting. No. 3: Send bills daily rather than monthly. No. 4: Track insurance. No. 5: Follow up on delinquent accounts. No. 6: Train your team. About the author Sally McKenzie is a nation- ally known lecturer and author. She is CEO of McKenzie Man- agement, which provides highly successful and proven man- agement services to dentistry and has since 1980. McKenzie Management offers a full line of educational and management products, which are available at www.mckenziemgmt.com. In addition, the company offers a vast array of business operations programs and team training. McKenzie is also the editor of the e-Management newslet- ter and The Dentist’s Network newsletter, sent complimentary to practices nationwide. To sub- scribe visit www.mckenziemgmt. com and www.thedentists network.net. She is also the publisher of the New Dentist™ magazine, www. thenewdentist.net. McKenzie welcomes specific practice questions and can be reached toll free at 877-777- 6151 or at sallymck@mckenzie mgmt.com. lection obstacle, found in Step No. 6 below. Step No. 6: Train your team The No. 1 reason for poor collections in nearly every practice is a lack of training. Provide results-oriented training designed to meet the follow- ing practice objectives: A 98 percent collection rate should be maintained for treatment being performed cur- rently. For practices accepting assign- ment, over-the-counter collections should range between 40 to 45 per- cent of total production. It is feasible for a hygienist to treat 10 patients in one day from whom the practice will collect zero dollars because insurance will pay 100 per- cent, thus, it is essential that these measurements be averaged monthly to adjust for the ratio of insurance payment of benefits and patient pay- ment. Practices that do not accept assignment should strive for 85 to 100 percent of over-the-counter col- lections. Accounts receivable should be no more than 1x monthly pro- duction. Finally, accounts receiv- able more than 90 days should not exceed 12 percent of total accounts receivable. DT