If you’ve talked with a consultant about accounts receivable or collection rates, chances are you’ve heard that a total collection rate of 98% is a great goal and that your standard for over-the-counter collections should be between 35% and 45% (higher for specialty offices). The more you collect at the patient visit makes it easier to reach the overall collections goal. So how are you doing? Dentrix Ascend gives you the tools to see your over-the-counter collection numbers.
How to:
- To ensure your over-the-counter collection numbers are correct, you first need to make sure that you record the payment correctly. When a patient or guarantor makes an in-office payment, select the Paid at patient visit checkbox in the Ledger Enter Payment window.
This part of the workflow is easy because the checkbox is automatically selected when you enter any payment that is not from an insurance carrier.
- To see your over-the-counter collection numbers, run the Payment Analysis Report (Home > Payment Analysis).
At the top of the report is a summary line called Collected During Visit, which includes a percentage value. This is your over-the-counter collection percentage! You may wish to develop an office protocol for how often to record this value, which report date range to use when you capture the value, and how to track your performance trends over time.
Additional Information
- To get accurate over-the-counter numbers, team member workflow must include deselecting the Paid at patient visit checkbox when a payment is not presented in person (for example, a payment received with a statement stub).
- Your user role must include the Financial Reports right in order to run the Payment Analysis report.
- For more information, see Viewing the Payment Analysis Report in the Dentrix Ascend Resource Center.