3 Keys to a Healthy & Profitable Dental Practice:

Cash flow is a leadership issue because it is your responsibility to make sure your business is healthy and profitable. One way to do that is by implementing a comprehensive cash flow system and monitoring it for success. Managing your cash flow system is delegated to your team in their different roles, but monitoring it is a key business system that you need eyes on. It protects you from embezzlement and frankly you don’t know what you don’t know.

There are three keys to healthy and profitable practice:

1. Creating a cash flow system

2. Managing your cash flow system

3. Monitoring your cash flow system

In this blog we are going to talk about Creating A Cash Flow System. Your system should address all touch points where your money is involved. In this blog I will give you the first 15 to consider. Cash flow is an important part of coaching with us. We offer monthly training to this key system in running your business profitably! Check out our website for upcoming training dates.

1.  Website:

• Clear financial policy

• Insurance policy/ in house membership plan

• Secure patient portal

• Monitored live chat

2.  First Contact:

Excellent verbal skills & ability to bond with the potential patient and must be comfortable explaining fees/services/payment policy.

3.  First and future appointments process: Check out our Patient Route Planning AMA

4.  Insurance:

• Trained and knowledgeable team member processing insurance
• Verify every patient for eligibility/benefits before treatment
• Use the word Guesstimate when discussing co-pay & pre-estimates!
• Complete e-Claims are filed daily:  Narratives, attachments, & complete patient info.

5.  Financial Presentation & 3rd party financing options. 

6.  Collect co-pay at the time of appt and/or a deposit prior to treatment for large cases

7.  Create and Implement a system to track extended payments (we got a form for that!)

8.  Statements: This should be minimal!!!  Ideally you should aim to send as few monthly statements as possible and have a credit card on file to pay the balance after insurance payment is received. If you must send statements: Request Accounts Receivable Checklist

10.  Accept direct deposit Insurance payments-improves cash flow

11.  Implement an unscheduled treatment protocol (See unscheduled treatment protocol) and call patients with outstanding treatment. Please schedule dedicated time for this extremely important task. This is such an important area of the cash flow management, check out our blog next week on Blog on Unschedule Treatment protocol.

12.  Communicate with patients about their insurance opportunities.  Send a “Use it or lose it” Insurance notification and a Flexible Spending Account notification to patients who have outstanding treatment and have benefits left for the year-schedule to send it at the end of September and again in October/November. -A good patient communication system can do this for you automatically.

13.  Negotiate credit card fees by every 2 years

14.  Re-evaluate your fees annually

15.  Implement a dental supply inventory control protocol to ensure you are not over-ordering and supplies don’t expire.

When the following is consistently implemented, you will maintain a healthy cash flow. What comes next is just as important. Monitoring your cash flow system. Embezzlement is a big risk you take when you do not monitor your cash flow systems. We'll go deeper on another blog on monitoring your system. Just keep in mind, the synergy of a healthy cash flow system is:

1. having an effective system,
2. having a skilled team to manage it, and
3. monitoring and refining it for successful profitability!

Ready to take your dental practice to the next level? Sign up for a free demo today and see how our solutions can help you achieve excellence!