764: Cash Flow Kings and Queens: The Dentist’s Guide to Mastering Accounts Receivable – Ariel Juday

What is your favorite collections agency? Your answer should be, “None of them!” Sending patients to collections is not worth the hassle. Instead, you should prevent getting to this point in the first place. To help you master accounts receivable and avoid uncomfortable situations, Kirk Behrendt brings back Ariel Juday, one of ACT’s amazing coaches, with some of the best practices for managing AR. To learn how to collect the money you deserve, listen to Episode 764 of The Best Practices Show!

Learn More About Ariel:

• Send Ariel an email: ariel@actdental.com 
• Follow Ariel on ACT’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actdental
• Send Gina an email: gina@actdental.com 

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

• Subscribe to The Best Practices Show: https://the-best-practices-show.captivate.fm/listen
• Join The Best Practices Association: https://www.actdental.com/bpa
• Join ACT’s To The Top Study Club: https://www.actdental.com/ttt
• See the ACT Dental/BPA Live Event Schedule: https://www.actdental.com/event
• Get The Best Practices Magazine for free: https://www.actdental.com/magazine
• Please leave us a review on the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-practices-show-with-kirk-behrendt/id1223838218

Episode Resources:

• Watch the video version of Episode 764: https://www.youtube.com/@actdental/videos

Main Takeaways:

• Attempt to collect at time of service.
• Avoid scheduling patients who are high-risk.
• Have a working system for financial agreements.
• Take care of the balance before treatment, not after.
• Make sure that patients are making reasonable payments.
• Let competent admin take care of the financial conversations.
• Align with your team on collection strategies for overdue balances.
• Document every financial agreement you make — no matter the amount.
• Record each engagement and each engagement attempt with the patient.
• No more than one month’s net collections should be outstanding in your AR.
• Remember that your patient didn't let this overdue balance happen — you did!
• There is no benefit to sending patients to collections. Prevent getting to this point.

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:25 About ACT’s BPA, TTT, and Pro Coaching.

5:01 Why this is an important topic.

9:38 With work and intentionality, it’s possible.

11:52 AR aging and claims aging, explained.

13:06 Accounts receivable, explained.

14:13 Have a system to find your AR.

16:47 Healthy AR goals, explained.

19:19 Train patients with reservation fees and prepaid balances.

21:01 Work with your patients but remember you're not a bank.

22:44 Let admin take care of the financial conversations.

25:11 Take care of the balance before treatment.

28:12 Overdue balances, explained.

30:51 Collection strategies for an overdue balance.

36:26 Should you send patients to collections?

40:36 Q&A: Thoughts on text message statements.

41:37 Collect at time of service to avoid headaches.

44:04 Consistent management is key.

44:55 Document all of your engagements and engagement attempts.

45:29 A call from the doctor can do wonders.

46:46 It shouldn't be a difficult conversation.

47:51 Fix problems at the root.

48:34 Do you have to document every financial arrangement?

50:41 Avoid scheduling high-risk patients.

52:51 Final thoughts.

Ariel Juday Bio:

Ariel has a master’s in healthcare administration and several years of dental experience in all aspects of the administrative roles within the dental office. Her passion is to work with dental teams to empower team members to realize their full potential in order to better serve patients, improve office systems to ensure a well-functioning team/office, and to help everyone have fun in the process!