Nothing is more frustrating to a dentist than having to chase the money owed to them. But unfortunately it is too often a fact of life for dentists. Unlike health insurance, dental insurance is very limited and many people do not have any coverage at all.

Dental offices can require full payment up front, but doing so may make them noncompetitive with other dental offices that offer payment options. If you are going to offer credit you need to plan for the sad fact that some people will not pay you. 

Dental debt collection is difficult, but there are steps a dental office can take to recover more money themselves and also improve the chances of recovery with their collection agency:

1. Pre-qualify patient dental insurance information before first visit. Present patient with a recap of benefits and review with them. It is important that patients understand the limitations of their coverage. Ask them to sign the review.

2. Collect as much patient data as possible. Be very specific in what you ask for: full name including middle initial, date of birth, social security number, spouse/emergency contact, place of employment etc. Ask for mailing address AND a residence address. (We see too many collection files with only a post office box address!)

3. You can certainly minimize your credit risk by offering health care financing through a third party, such as CareCredit. However, only patients with very good credit will be accepted, and those patients may be approved for amounts that only partially offset the cost of treatment. 

4. Document all payment plans.

5.  Stay on top of your receivables. Reach out by letter and/or phone at 30/60/90 days. Have one person in your office responsible for this task. At 90 days, you have a problem. Do not delay sending to your collection agency.

6. Carefully select files to be sent to a collection agency. Think twice about sending a file that is in dispute and that does not have proper documentation. While a good agency that understands your business should be able to handle basic disputes, the best files for collection are people who have promised to pay you and have not.

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