Leveraging Open Dental Tools to Maximize

Collections in Your Practice

In every dental office, production is key to sustaining patient care and driving growth. But production alone doesn’t pay the bills—it’s the collections that truly make a difference. While delivering excellent care is the first step, ensuring that you’re actually collecting on the work you’ve done is what keeps the practice thriving. Open Dental provides robust tools to help your team manage collections effectively, particularly when it comes to following up on outstanding insurance claims and AR reports.

Let’s break down why this is critical and how to do it right.

1. Collect Balances Upfront

Prevention is the best cure for AR headaches. Train your front desk team to collect as much of the patient’s portion as possible on the day of service. Over-collecting by a small margin is better than under-collecting and later chasing balances.

Why it Works: Patients appreciate transparency and often prefer to pay upfront rather than receive a surprise bill. Explain their responsibility upfront, and let them know they’ll be refunded promptly if insurance overpays or sent a bill if insurance underpays.

💡 Example: If a patient’s estimated portion is $200, collect that amount at checkout. If insurance later covers more than expected, issue a refund promptly. This builds trust and prevents unnecessary accounts from appearing on your AR report.

2. Run and Audit Your AR Report Regularly

Your accounts receivable (AR) report is the heartbeat of your collections process. Running it weekly—or at least bi-weekly—ensures that accounts don’t fall through the cracks. This report gives you a snapshot of all unpaid balances, allowing you to follow up with patients and insurance companies efficiently.

Follow a Consistent AR Timeline

Having a defined AR timeline is critical. This timeline establishes clear steps for when and how you follow up on balances. For example:

• 30 Days: Send the first statement.

• 60 Days: Send a second statement and a reminder letter.

• 90 Days: Issue a final notice.

By creating and sticking to a timeline, you cap how long balances remain unresolved. This reduces the risk of carrying overdue accounts and helps patients stay informed about their responsibilities.

💡 Example: Let’s say Jane Doe has a $150 balance. By referencing your notes, you can see that her first statement was sent two weeks ago, and insurance has paid its portion. You now know it’s time for a friendly patient call or second statement.

Pro Tip: Use Open Dental’s Family Financial Box to keep detailed notes on each balance. For instance, note when the first statement was sent or if insurance has delayed payment. Clear notes save time and frustration when revisiting accounts.

3. Running the Outstanding Claims Report

This report categorizes outstanding claims by how long they’ve been pending. Use this report weekly to identify which claims need immediate attention. Focus on the oldest claims first, as they are at higher risk of being written off if too much time passes. Set a consistent day each week to review your outstanding claims. This ensures claims never sit idle for too long.

Document All Communication

Claim Status Updates
When working on claims, always update their statuses in Open Dental. For example:

• Claims under review? Mark them accordingly.

• Insurance needs additional documentation? Add notes to indicate what’s missing.

Keeping these statuses up-to-date ensures everyone on your team knows where each claim stands and what steps are next. Each time you call or email an insurance provider, log the details in Open Dental’s Claim Note section. This creates a clear trail for anyone reviewing the account.

💡Example: A claim pending for 60+ days might need more urgent follow-up than one at 30 days. By addressing aging claims quickly, you can avoid costly denials.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

• Don’t Wait Too Long: Insurance carriers often have deadlines for claim submission or resubmission. Missing these can lead to a claim denial that’s impossible to reverse.

• Track Secondary Insurance: When patients have multiple insurances, it’s easy to overlook secondary claims. Use Open Dental to flag these accounts and ensure timely submission.

• Stay Patient-Friendly: If a claim is denied and the balance becomes the patient’s responsibility, be transparent and compassionate when discussing payment options.

Bonus Tool: Open Dental Queries

Open Dental users can harness powerful query tools to streamline collections even further. Exporting data into an Excel sheet can help you track patient names, balances, and notes all in one place. By working through accounts systematically, you can reduce outstanding balances faster and with greater accuracy.

Conclusion: Transforming Production into Collected Revenue

Your practice’s production is only as strong as its collections process. By utilizing Open Dental’s tools to follow up on outstanding insurance claims and patient AR, you can ensure that the work your team does translates into revenue for your practice.

Start today by running your outstanding claims report and AR report and taking control of those pending claims and outstanding balances. A little consistent effort goes a long way toward boosting your bottom line—and the financial health of your practice.