This Is How We Can Help You with Dental Collections

Like others who chose the medical industry, you entered the field of dentistry to make a difference. You believed in helping people smile with self-confidence by improving their oral health. So, you studied for four years to earn a bachelor’s degree and then another four grueling years to complete dental school.

But perhaps you didn’t stop there. Perhaps you put in another tough two years to specialize.

Ten years or so after you started, you finally earned your qualifications. But you also found yourself in debt. According to the debt statistics shared by the American Dental Education Association, you most likely owed upwards of $260,000.

And this isn’t counting your lost earnings. Had you worked after your science degree, according to PayScale, you would have earned $220,000 in the four years you spent studying fulltime at dental school.

Then, there’s the price of starting your own practice.

Because of the competitive job market, many new dentists choose to invest in their own clinic. And the Bank of America estimates that the average cost of starting a new dental clinic is $475,000.

Fortunately, the dentistry field pays well. The average working American dentist can recoup their cost of education within the span of a few years.  

However, for this to happen you need to be paid on time. At Summit A*R we understand that it can be awkward to recover payments in the dental industry, considering that you entered the field to heal people and not to chase delinquent accounts.

At Summit A*R we have over 20 years of experience recovering revenue. We have developed a close relationship with clients in the health industry that trust our compassionate medical collection services. This includes hospitals, dental clinics, and veterinary clinics.

What’s more, we’re proud to be affiliated with two important healthcare organizations:

• American Association of Health Administrative Management: Also known as the AAHAM, this leading nonprofit provides education, certifications, networking, and advocacy for healthcare revenue cycle professionals. As members of AAHM, we gain a unique understanding of the demands of the medical industry.
• Rural Health Alliance: This non-profit body has over 35 years of experience serving numerous members across the United States with a wealth of information and resources.  

Working with these associations and serving our renowned clients in the dental industry has given us some insight. We realize that dental industry professionals are compassionate and good people. They’re passionate about serving their clients with a variety of services, from regular checkups to orthodontic treatments. Many oral hygienists also regularly attend seminars to further their craft and serve their clients better.

Whether you’re a dentist or an administrator in the dental industry, you’re incredibly busy. From patients to bills to extensive paperwork, you have little free time. So, it’s understandably frustrating for you to deal with consumer collections. This is compounded by the awkwardness of dealing with clients you sought to heal.

More importantly, you want to preserve your company’s reputation. After all, few professionals rely more on word-of-mouth marketing than dentists.

Although most reputable dental clinics earn from old clients, new clients are an important part of their business. Meanwhile, freshly started dental clinics thrive on new business. For either, social media is an important marketing tool.

In the digital age, a terrible review can sometimes break a business. That’s why many professionals in the dental industry are wary of chasing delinquent accounts. In-house collections are often ineffective and a waste of resources. Alternatively, by partnering with an unethical collection agency that uses aggressive or illegal tactics, you could lose money, the client, and your reputation.

At the same time, you realize that recovering outstanding payments is crucial to your survival. Delinquent accounts hurt your ability to pay your own debts and meet the cost of running your business. What’s more, according to Dental Economics, your industry is experiencing a reimbursement crisis: “As reimbursement rates continue to decline, dental practice owners are becoming desperate.”

They say that desperate times call for desperate measures. Thankfully, you have a safe choice. Instead of using an agency that may threaten, harass, or even harm your client, preserve customer relationships through the collection process by partnering with Summit A*R.

We’re a Dental Collection Agency with a P.H.D.

At Summit A*R we safeguard your reputation and relationships by following our “P.H.D. Philosophy” (Preserve Human Dignity). This means that we treat all customers with dignity and respect. We pledge to avoid the following unethical and illegal tactics:

• Harassment
• Aggression
• Robocalls
• Misrepresentation
• Blackmail

Some businesses falsely believe that only unethical agencies can recover their outstanding A/R. On the contrary, our liquidation rates are twice the national average. Learn about our Preserve Human Dignity collection process and how it can help your business recover revenue while preserving your reputation.

The Secret to Our Success

Thanks to our decades of experience we know that most debtors are good people. This is especially true for people with medical debt. They want to pay what they owe. But they don’t want to work with a debt collection agency that mistreats them. When treated with respect, and presented with manageable solutions, most people are happy to pay their debts.

However, some customers simply refuse to cooperate with debt collection agencies. That’s why we always take a friendly yet stern approach. One of the many tools in our arsenal is the ability to report delinquent customers to credit bureaus. Your in-house collections department won’t have this tool. Most customers will clear their debts when they realize that their credit rating is on the line.

Many members of the dental industry complain that their debtors go into hiding. Dental clinics usually don’t have the resources to trace them. Fortunately, we do. Our skip-tracing department is led by a highly skilled private detective with a wealth of state-of-the-art resources. This makes our ability to trace debtors and their assets higher than other collection agencies.

You have many other advantages of working with a dental collection agency like Summit A*R. For example, our practices are 100% HIPPA-compliant. Our no-compliant policy is evidenced by our highly coveted A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

What’s more, when you partner with us, you’ll have access to our fully HIPAA-compliant portal. This will allow you to examine the status of the collection, download remittance reports and more at any time. We also offer pre-collection services, where we professionally manage your patient billing, including insurance follow-ups.

So, get in touch with us today. Improve your payment recovery rates and free up your resources to further your enterprise. By letting us take care of business you can do what you do best: improve oral hygiene.