New Dentrix Features To Help Manage Patient and Provider Balances (Part 1)

In Dentrix there are a couple of new features which will help your office when it comes to the tricky process of allocating balances. I wanted to take a moment to tell you about these new features and how they can help your office. 

First, I’ll explain why balances need to be allocated. 

It’s important that payments and adjustments are always posted to the individual patient and not to the guarantor. If payments aren’t posted to the patient, you’ll find that although the family may have a zero balance, the patient will have a balance in Dentrix, and the guarantor will have a credit. This can cause a mess in your accounting and make answering patients’ billing questions difficult. If you’ve been posting payments to the guarantor in Dentrix and a patient calls and asks you who in the family owes a balance, you know what I’m talking about.

It’s also very important that payments are posted accurately amongst providers. This will become increasingly important if your office hires an associate or if your doctor plans on selling the practice. Payments must be posted accurately in order for collections to be calculated accurately. 

Dentrix has provided ways to simplify the allocation process by using the Provider Credit Balances Manager. With the release of G7.4, there are additional features you can use to make managing family and provider balances easier. 

The first new feature is available when combining or separating families using the Edit Family Relations option in the Family File. When editing family relations, Dentrix walks you through the process, showing you how balances will be affected when moving family members. 

When separating families, you have the option to move the balance to the new family or keep it with the original family. Any necessary adjustments will be calculated for you and you can designate a specific adjustment type to be used.

Another new feature in Dentrix that came out in Dentrix G7.3 is the ability to have up to 255 adjustment types. Because of this, it’s a good idea to create specific adjustment types for both family adjustments and provider adjustments. That way, when reviewing reports, you’ll be able to see exactly why an adjustment was made. 

The addition of these two new features in Dentrix can simplify the process of making adjustments when combining and separating families. 

For more information on the latest features in Dentrix, click here.

Email me if you have questions at  vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.  

New Dentrix G7.4 Insurance Features

 With the introduction of Dentrix G7.4, there have been some exciting changes with how you enter and view patient insurance information. I believe these changes are going to be such a positive improvement for all offices. If you haven’t had an opportunity to upgrade to Dentrix G7.4 yet, or had an opportunity to learn about the changes, let me tell you what you’re missing!

There’s a new Dental Insurance Benefits and Coverage window (which you get to by double-clicking a patient’s Insurance block in the Family File and then clicking the Benefits/Coverage button), where all of a patient’s insurance information is consolidated into a single location. This makes it easier for your team to navigate without having to hunt for the information they need.

A feature that I’m especially excited about, is visible when you first access this window. When the Dental Insurance Benefits and Coverage window opens, it defaults to show the information on the Insurance Plan tab. 

Here you have the option to enter a waiting period, maximum age for dependents, a missing tooth clause, and whether crowns and bridges are paid on prep date or seat date. While this information is not included in patient estimates, Dentrix will provide you with a pop-up warning when you’re scheduling an appointment that conflicts with the insurance details you’ve entered. This is such an exciting improvement because in previous versions of Dentrix, this information would either be entered into the Insurance Plan Notes or a scanned insurance breakdown in the Document Center. The struggle with that was getting your team to read those notes before scheduling an appointment. Once you have entered that information in Dentrix, and with the new insurance warnings, this will no longer be an issue. 

Another very exciting feature is the information that can be entered in the Exceptions tab. 

This is a designated area for you to enter frequency limitations and age limits. There is an option to insert a template or create your own. I think this is an awesome improvement to the Insurance window in Dentrix, because in previous versions of Dentrix there wasn’t a specific area to keep track of this information. Now it will be easy to view insurance plan details and explain them to your patients when presenting a treatment plan and scheduling appointments.

Another great feature is that this insurance information is accessible from the Family File, the Treatment Planner, and the Appointment Information dialog box. This makes it very convenient for your team to reference this information while creating a treatment plan or when scheduling an appointment. 

There are also new insurance icons that appear in the Family File, Treatment Planner, and Appointment Information dialog box that indicate if exceptions have been entered for a patient’s plan, if there’s a missing tooth clause, and/or if there are insurance plan notes. 

Family File icons example: Insurance Plan Details, Insurance Note, Missing Tooth Clause

Treatment Plan icons example: Insurance Plan Details, Exceptions, Missing Tooth Clause

Appointment Information icons example: Insurance Plan Details, Exceptions, Missing Tooth Clause

The icons make it easy to see what type of insurance information has been entered into Dentrix and serve as a quick reference for your team to know what type of insurance details have been entered for the plan and may need a quick review.

Having insurance warnings for procedures that conflict with the patient’s insurance plan, having a designated area to enter plan details like frequencies and limitations, and having this information easily accessible for several modules in Dentrix are going to make the way your office deals with insurance so much easier. The new details and icons will also help to take the guess work out of insurance plans and allow your office to provide your patients with more accurate information and treatment estimates. 

I recently presented a Dentrix G7.4 New Features webinar which you can view on-demand. You can also get additional information here:

• An Easier Way to Manage Patient Insurance Details

You can email me if you have questions at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.

Charlotte Skaggs, Certified Dentrix Trainer

Charlotte Skaggs is the founder of Vector Dental Consulting LLC, a practice management firm focused on taking offices to the next level. Charlotte co-owned and managed a successful dental practice with her husband for 17 years. She has a unique approach to consulting based on the perspective of a practice owner. Charlotte has been using Dentrix for almost 20 years and is a certified Dentrix trainer. Contact Charlotte at vectordentalconsulting@gmail.com.  

QuickBill Email - A New Way to Send Patient Billing Statements

Earlier this year, I wrote about collecting patient balances. I suggested sending patients a statement immediately after receiving an insurance payment if there is a remaining patient balance. This means not waiting until your office’s next regular billing cycle. Cash flow is always important in a dental practice, and perhaps even more so during these challenging times. The quicker you can send patients their statement and collect their balance, the better. With that being said, I’m excited about the addition of QuickBill Email. 

The previous version of QuickBill allowed your office to send statements electronically using Dentrix and have them printed and mailed for you. I always liked this service because it saved staff time printing, envelope stuffing, and mailing statements. And it saved money by not using the office’s toner ink and other office supplies to print the statements. 

While you can still send statements by traditional mail, QuickBill Email makes huge improvements on that service by allowing offices to send patient statements via e-mail. 

Here are some of the great features QuickBill Email offers:

• Your office maintains control of which patients receive emailed statements.
• You are able to add customized messages on individual statements. For example, you could add a statement note that reads, Exam not covered due to insurance frequency limitation, or Dental insurance annual maximum has been met.
• Emailed statements protect patient’s privacy by requiring a first name, last name, and date of birth to be entered before viewing the statement.
• QuickBill Email provides a convenient way for patients to pay their balance. They click a link in the email and enter their credit card information on a webpage. When your office performs your daily WebSync, you'll see a list of received payments and can easily post them into the Dentrix Ledger. This will save staff time manually entering this information and help to prevent errors. Providing patients with a more convenient way to pay their balance can improve cash flow.
• Sending email statements vs. paper statements via the mail will be far more cost effective for your practice by eliminating the cost of paper, envelopes, and postage.
• By sending statements via email rather than through the mail, patients are made aware of their balances faster and can make a payment immediately.

QuickBill eStatements will save offices money, improve cash flow, and improve the patient’s billing experience with your practice by providing a more convenient way to pay their balance. I’m excited about how this service can improve your dental practice’s billing procedures.

Be sure to check out the following resources:

• Read  5 Reasons You Should Be Sending Electronic Billing Statements in Dentrix Magazine
• Watch QuickBill Email Overview video
• Visit www.dentrix.com/electronicbilling for more information.