Top 6 Financial Tips for Dentists and Practice Owners

Financial Tip #1: Efficient and Effective Appointment Scheduling

The number one financial tip I give to dental practices is to make patient appointment scheduling be as efficient and effective as possible. Efficient and effective appointment scheduling is the best way for a dental practice to maximize its revenue while simultaneously fully utilizing its staff and equipment. For larger dental practices, this might entail using an online appointment scheduling system that transmits emails, texts, and voice messages regarding appointment sign-ups and appointment reminders. For smaller dental practices, this might entail timely phone call appointment sign-ups and appointment reminders. Regardless of the system used, the more a dental practice communicates with a patient about their scheduled or yet-to-be scheduled appointment, the better. Furthermore, making sure that a patient schedules their next appointment immediately prior to leaving the dental office upon completion of their current appointment, greatly increases the chances that the patient will actually schedule and attend their next appointment.     

Financial Tip #2: Collecting Payment at Time of Service 

The number two financial tip I give to dental practices is to make sure that full payment is collected at the time of service. Payment at the time of service should be a dental practice’s standard policy. Upon completion of the dental services, a staff member should escort the patient to the welcome desk so that the patient’s payment can be immediately processed (i.e., by check, credit card, cash, or other acceptable payment method). Collecting payment after the time of service results in an increased risk of non-payment and the incurrence of significant staff costs in trying to collect such payments. Nevertheless, if payment must be collected after the time of service or a financing arrangement is agreed to with the patient, make sure to get the patient’s commitment to make those expected payments in a signed writing.

 Financial Tip #3: Scheduling Multiple Patients for Appointment Times

The number three financial tip I give to dental practices is to make sure to schedule the most patients that the dental practice can reasonably handle for each appointment time period. Some dental practices can handle only one patient at a time, but the better performing practices schedule multiple patients per dentist for each appointment time period, and then plan for supporting staff as needed. This allows for the dentists and the staff to be utilized at all times, even when some of the patients cancel or do not show for their appointments. While you want to keep your appointments on time, keeping the appointments on time is generally much less important than ensuring full utilization of dentists and staff.