How Often Should You Run Billing in Your Dental Practice?
Run Your Billing for Cash Flow
Consistent and timely billing is essential to maintaining cash flow in any dental practice. But how often should billing actually be run? The answer might vary depending on your practice’s needs and patient preferences, but we recommend running billing once per week. In this post, we’ll cover the benefits of a weekly billing schedule and why spacing patient statements to every 14 days can improve your collections without overwhelming patients.
Why Weekly Billing Works
Running billing every Monday, or once per week, provides a few key advantages:
Predictable Cash Flow: Weekly billing helps maintain a steady revenue stream, reducing the strain on your practice’s finances and ensuring funds are available for payroll and other expenses.
Simplified Workflows: When billing becomes a regular part of your schedule, it’s easier to monitor and address issues such as claim denials or unpaid balances, making it a manageable task rather than a daunting one.
Quick Follow-Ups: Weekly billing allows you to stay on top of overdue payments, as outstanding balances are quickly identified and addressed. This can lead to faster collections, which benefits both the practice and patients who may need reminders.
The 14-Day Billing Cycle for Patient Statements
In Open Dental, you can set a “last billed” date, which means the system will only generate statements for patients who haven’t received one within a certain period—every 14 days in this case. This approach has several benefits:
Reduced Patient Burnout: Receiving bills weekly can feel overwhelming to patients, leading to dissatisfaction and potentially late payments. A 14-day cycle provides a better balance, reminding patients of their responsibility without overloading them.
Enhanced Collection Rates: By sending statements every two weeks, you’re keeping the payment request visible and frequent enough for patients to remember but not so often that it feels aggressive.
Efficient Use of Resources: Processing bills weekly but setting patient statement frequency to every 14 days ensures that your team isn’t spending extra time on redundant billing tasks and that statements only go out when needed.
Digital Billing: The Next Step for Efficiency
If you’re looking to further streamline your billing process, consider implementing digital billing. By sending statements electronically, you can reduce the time and costs associated with mailed statements, lower your practice’s environmental impact, and offer a more convenient option for patients to view and pay their bills online.
