Discounts can be destructive if not used with proper judgement. There is always the danger of having people focus on price instead of the value of your services. However, keep in mind that "Discount Dentistry" is very different than offering targeted discounts to accomplish a specific goal. The key is to have a good reason to offer the discount to accomplish the targeted need. You just have to be smart about it. Kevin Tighe, Cambridge Dental Consultants, Senior Consultant, got bitten hard by the business and marketing bug during long summer days working at his dad's Madison Avenue ad agency. After joining...
MAILING LIST Create a mailing list of patients who have not been in for at least twelve months. Also include patients who have pending unscheduled treatment from the previous twelve months. Go back at least five years. Run your list against the National Change of Address (NCOA) database REACTIVATION POSTCARDS Letters often go unread and postcards can get tossed, but detachable (rip) gift cards tend to get held onto. Detachable (rip) gift cards can be printed on normal paper stock or on high quality plastic (costs 3.5X more). The higher the quality the better. Many practices get a 10%-20% response rate...
Tip 1: Verify you have an accurate active patient count. Often the count is greatly inflated. This is less of an issue then in the past due to practice management software. If patient info has been correctly entered for all patients then the active patient count should be good. There are different opinions as to what constitutes an active patient but counting any recall patients going back eighteen months works. Doing so takes into account patients who have slipped off the radar but can be gotten back in. Tip 2: Has extensive dentistry already been done on most patients? If so, then...
1. Acceptable total A/R: One month of collections or less (12%) 2. A/R & pending claims. 20% over 30 days acceptable and dwindling. >50% of AR in 0-30 days <30% of AR in 30-60 days <18% of AR in 60-90 days <2% of AR in 90+ days 3. You want to see past due balances of 30, 60, and 90 days so that you can generate the correct letter or call as needed. You should also run an Insurance Aging Report at least weekly because you don't want those going past 30 days. Start collecting after 20 days. I recommend working the...