
The Payment Agreement is one type of payment plan in
Dentrix. Use this if patients have already completed their treatment and have
an existing balance you want to extend for a period of time. Entering in the
payment agreements into Dentrix will help you manage your accounts in three
huge ways.
- If you have read my articles about patient
collections, you know that I use the Collection Manager Report for
managing accounts receivable. This report allows you to enter columns of
information that will show you Payment Agreement Balance, Payment
Agreement Amount Due, and # of missed payments. Having this
information at your fingertips can be extremely helpful on this report
because you don’t have to do any research about the account balance. You
can see that the patient is on a payment plan and if he or she is current
with payments. Read More . . . on the Collection Manager Report.
- When you create a Payment Agreement, it will
light up the Payment Agreement Summary section on the Ledger so anyone who
opens the ledger will see that the account is on a payment plan as well as
the status of the payments. If there are missed payments, this will show
up in red in the Past Due section. This will be extremely helpful if the
financial coordinator is on vacation and relying on other team members to
collect money at the time of service or field phone calls.
- When you send billing statements, if you have
entered in the Payment Agreement, it will accurately reflect the amount
due from the family. The billing statement will show the total account
balance and, in the PLEASE PAY THIS AMOUNT box, it will show the agreed
payment amount. Also, if the patient has missed a payment, the billing
statement will show a past due amount at the top of the statement to draw
attention to this missed payment. If you are not using this feature, you
might be writing on the statement … and that takes more time out of your
schedule.
The second option for setting up a payment plan is using the
Future Due Payment Plan feature. Use this when the patient is going to incur
charges over a period of time in the future, such as orthodontic treatment. The
Future Due Payment Plan helps you manage your accounts receivable in three ways
as well.
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In a similar manner as discussed above, you can
filter your Collection Manager Report to search for patients with a FDPP so you
can focus on those accounts and see if any of these accounts have missed a
payment.
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When you create a FDPP, it will remove the
balance out of your accounts receivable and bill it out at increments you
decide on. For example, if a patient is going to schedule a $5,000 12-month
ortho treatment and put $1,500 down, then you can set up the payment plan to
“hide” the $3,500 and bill out $291.66 each month automatically. Additionally, you
can set it up so it will automatically create an insurance claim to go out to
the insurance company as well.
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Finally, you can print out a coupon book if the
patient would like a reminder for their payments.
If you would like more information on my online course
titled “Show me the Money” . . . CLICK HERE.
Dayna loves her work. She has over 25 years of experience in the dental industry, and she’s passionate about building efficient, consistent, and secure practice management systems. Dayna knows that your entire day revolves around your practice management software—the better you learn to use it, the more productive and stress-free your office will be. In 2016, Dayna founded Novonee ™, The Premier Dentrix Community, to help cultivate Dentrix super-users all over the country. Learn more from Dayna at www.novonee.com and contact Dayna at dayna@novonee.com.