Dental collection agencies are a common tool used by dentists, but are they the best option to handle patient payments? Late and ignored bills are a major issue for all medical professionals. For dentists, unpaid bills can easily cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
To get something for those outstanding collections, many dentists sell accounts receivables to dental collection agencies. Instead of taking an up-front loss and putting your patient’s credit through the wringer, consider these customer-friendly alternatives that could end up adding to your bottom line.
Why some dentists choose dental collection agencies
Collection agents may seem like an easy way out of billing woes, but they can ultimately cost dentists even more money while angering patients. Leading medical collection companies charge per-account fees, take a portion of successful collections, or take on your A/R for pennies on the dollar.
One major dental debt collector charges 40% of the outstanding balance or $25 per account. That’s huge! And at the same time, sending your customers to collections can ruin their credit. If they are already struggling to pay the bills, adding collections calls and fees won’t make them any more excited about paying you.
It is a common and easy way to handle billing collections without further taxing your staff, but there are better ways to handle collections than using outsourced dental collection agencies.
Alternatives to dental collection agencies
If you want to save yourself and your patients the pain of dental collections, you can offer different payment plans to meet patient needs. Just like tooth decay and gum disease, prevention is far better than fixing an existing problem. Here are some great alternatives to consider:
- Payment plans – An easy option for your customers is offering payment plans. However, administering them can be tough on your staff. This usually requires additional software if your current billing suite doesn’t have it enabled by default.
- Internal collections team – Instead of outsourcing collections, you could always hire more staff to handle collections calls and billing problems. However, adding new headcount can be prohibitively expensive. This is not a good option for smaller practices
- Splitit – The best of both worlds, Splitit allows your customers to pay over time for free. Instead of giving your customers credit on your balance sheet, future payments are backed by a hold on the customer’s existing credit card account. That’s a winning combo for everyone involved. We also work with you to ensure privacy requirements are met.
Let your patients Splitit and pay over time
Lansdowne Family Dental in Leesburg, Virginia earns top-scoring reviews on Yelp, Google, and Facebook for providing excellent customer service from the first time they call until they pay their bills. But Dr. Elosta doesn’t stop his high-tech practice in the x-ray and exam rooms. Patients get a modern experience paying for treatment as well.
Utilizing Splitit, Landsdowne Family Dental offers unique plans for patients to pay their bills using Splitit. With seamless integration, Splitit puts a hold on the patient’s credit card without charging the account. For no added fee, the patient can pay their bill in even payments over time in up to 36 monthly payments.
Splitit works with dentist websites, point-of-sale systems, and mobile devices. Customers can use one or multiple Visa or Mastercards to secure their payment plan in seconds. This helps you offset future collections by putting patients on a good plan that works for their finances from the start.
Customer payments should be easier than pulling teeth
Some people cringe at the sound of a dentist’s drill, but that doesn’t have to be the case when their bill arrives. Instead of stressing about how to pay, they can just split their payment up over time with no added costs or interest charges. It helps everyone avoid collections and is a winning prescription for dental collections success. Click here to request a Splitit demo for your dental practice today.