Third-Party Financing
Offering third-party financing is a smart option to help keep accounts receivable low and keeps the office in the business of providing dentistry instead of banking services. Many patients do not have the available funds to pay for dentistry, which is frequently an unexpected financial expense. According to Levin (2001), “77 percent of Americans cannot write a check for more than $500 out of their monthly cash flow. The typical consumer has less than $400 available on consumer credit cards” (p.117). These patients will be more willing to accept a comprehensive treatment plan if a payment option is available. It will boost case acceptance. Third-party financing offers advantages to the patient such as instant approval, up to one year without interest, and extended terms at low-interest for the patient that requires more time to pay, affordable payments, and flexible terms. Acting as a credit company for patients has a negative impact on patient relations, is costly to profit margin, and wastes valuable time on a task that is very unpleasant (Levin, 2001). The office will have to pay a minor fee to the finance company, but the advantages of reducing billing work, gaining customer satisfaction and receiving the payment up-front makes it worth it. The most recognized third-party financing companies for dentistry are CareCredit, Springstone, Springleaf and Allwell.
CareCredit is the most utilized third-party financing company used by dental offices. After analyzing a targeted 2 year period prior to introducing the CareCredit program versus the two year period after implementation the studies found that practices increased their gross annual production by 25.3% compared to a practice not enrolled in a...
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Levin, R. (2001). Increase profits with third-party financing. Dental Economics 91(10). 116
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Dental hygiene is amongst many professions that come with an increased risk of injury. In fact, evidence suggests that the incidence of dental professionals acquiring musculoskeletal disorders is reaching 96%. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), these complications are a result of “repetitive motion or awkward posture for more than 2 hours at a time, unassisted frequent manual handling (eg, scaling an area using the same strokes), and unassisted forced manual handling (eg, heavy calculus removal using hand-activated instruments)”. These complications not only affect the quality of life for the
Professionalism in the dental profession refers to our responsibilities and obligations that exists throughout our entire dental career. “Professional competence is the habitual and judicious use of communication, knowledge, technical skills, clinical reasoning, emotions, values and reflection in daily practice for the benefit of the individual and community being served (Kirk, 2007).” A health professional must be able to regulate their own behavior and comply with a code of ethics in professional practice. Fundamental principles of professionalism include primacy of patient welfare, social justice and patient autonomy (Kirk, 2007).
A multispecialty group practice is one that consists of individual physicians who offer various medical and specialty services in that practice by contracting to a managed care plan. Managed Care Organizations are formed by insurance companies that either own a provider network or create one by arranging with independent providers (Gapenski, 2009). The payment structure used to reimburse providers regardless of services provided falls into the category of either fee-for-service or capitation based. Fee-for-service is the reimbursement according to services provided, either through reimbursing based on the cost of services provided or reimbursing based on rate schedule of services provided. On the other hand, in the Capitation system, providers are paid a fixed amount depending on the number o...
I am currently studying at CFCC to get into the Dental Assisting program. Upon graduating, I would like to acquire a job at an orthodontists office. The employment for this occupation is actually expected to grow much faster than average; between 2008 and 2018, employment is expected to grow 36 percent. The job demand in the Cape Fear area seems to be fairly higher than other areas in North Carolina, and higher than some other states as well.
In 1885, a New Orleans dentist named Dr. C. Edmund Kells has a brilliant idea of hiring female assistant. Have female present meant women are no longer needed as chaperon to visit his practice. Dental Assistant on good grammar discusses three important ideas of Susan Adams, Kyle Wiens, Occupational Outlook, and how can I communicate professionally.
A dental hygienist is a very important role in any dental office. As stated by a dental assistant, “Dental hygienists work closely with the dentist as well as hands on with the patients. They assist dentists with operative procedures such as fillings and extractions, and making molds of patients teeth” (Wilson, Jennifer). A large part of their job is teaching patients proper dental care to ensure a lifetime of healthy teeth. This includes proper brushing and flossing techniques. According to the job out look, a day as a dental hygienist can include taking x-rays, cleaning and scaling teeth, charting treatment plans, putting sealants on teeth, taking impressions of teeth and completing information about the patient’s oral and medical history (Summary). In some states dental hygienist are allowed to give local anesthetic and place and remove sutures (Delivering Local Anesthetic). According to advantages of becoming a dental hygienist, hygienists spend more hands on time with the patients than the dentist does. These are some of the instruments that dental hygienists use on a daily basis: toothbrush, scaler, mirror, ultrasonic scaler, explorer, suction, computer, salvia ejector, rubber cap polisher, dental models, x-ray machine and probe. The dental hygienist uses a toothbrush to remove soft plaque from the teeth. Plaque is a soft coating on the teeth that contain bacteria. The bacteria can cause tooth decay and gum disease. The amount of plaque on the teeth gives the hygienist an idea of how well the daily brushing and flossing of the patient’s teeth are completed on a regular basis. The scaler is used to remove hardened plaque or calculus from the teeth. The mirror is used to look closely at the surfaces of the teeth a...
The economy plays an important factor of what people want to spend their money on. Dental/ oral health care is important to most people in today’s today world. Since the dental/ oral health industry is very big there are many trends that are arising such as the cost of dental care increase or decreasing, market of the industry and lastly global dental industry.
The balance between quality patient care and medical necessity is a top priority and the main concern of many of the healthcare organizations today. Due to the rising cost of healthcare, there has been a change in the focus of reimbursement strategies that are affecting the delivery of patient care. This shift from a fee-for-service towards a value-based system creates a challenge that has shifted many providers’ focus more directly on their revenue. As a result, organizations are forced to take a hard look at the cost of services they are providing patients and then determining if the services and level of care are appropriate for the prescribed patient care.
In the mid 1980s, and into the 1990s, business leaders realized that a renewed focus on quality was required to continue to compete in an expanding global market. (NIST, 2010) Consequently, several strategic frameworks were developed for managing, and measuring organizational performance. Among them were the Malcomb Baldrige National Quality Award, which was created by and act of congress and signed into law by the President in 1987, and The Balanced Scorecard, which is a performance management tool that was born out of research conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Robert S. Kaplan, and David P. Norton published in 1996 (Kaplan, 1996). Initially, the renewed emphasis on quality management systems was a reaction to the LEAN approach to quality management implemented by many Japanese businesses to great success post World War II.
It has often been seen that certain dentist are in the field for their own personal gain by obtaining as much money as they can out of a patient. This can be a problem in that a patient may not be able to afford basic dental care if their insurance increases their rate. Dr. Pham has stated that when obtaining inventory that will help perform procedures like fillings, the company often gives dentist a range to which they can charge the patient. Meaning, if dentist wanted to, they could charge the minimum and break even, or charge the maximum and gain a huge surplus. If dentist were only in this physician to obtain as much money they could, patients wouldn’t be able to afford the basic necessities. Thus, dentist would start to lose patients due to not being financially stable to obtain such services. This would create a division on patients who can afford such health cares and those who cannot. As a result, creating your own personal financial gain through the dental field is in no way a means to over-diagnose and over treat a patient it they do not need the services and or can not afford
o Please describe a time when you performed a thorough head, neck and oral exam and the findings had a significant impact on how you proceeded with the dental hygiene process of care. Annette was performing her usual head, neck, and oral exam on a patient and found an enlarged thyroid. She recommended to the patient that she go see her primary care physician to get a better diagnosis. The patient went to her primary care physician and was told there was probably nothing. Later, the patient returned to the dental office and saw Annette and told her what the physician said.
Following the 1990’s recession as a means of cost saving companies changed dental coverage by “limiting of annual maximums and/or services, and/or through the introduction or expansion of deductibles, co-insurance or co-payments”5 Also, during this period availability of employment-based insurance decreased, as temporary and part time employment was increasing.5 This period of economic recession saw a marked increased in the cost and demand for dental service, yet wages remained stagnant for more than 20 years5. In 1960 total per capita dental care expenditure was estimated at $6 and by 2008 it has increased to $50, a 730% increase.5
Contained within the following paper is the evaluation of the author’s organization’s mission, vision goals, and objectives .The author will discuss the pre-determined questions as set forth by Jeffrey Trapp, a certified University of Phoenix instructor. This paper will discuss the differences that a rise between a company that has implemented TQM (Total Quality Management) with that of the authors own organization’s management style.
[12] timely2.com/TQM.htm, "timely2.com/TQM.htm," n.d.. [Online]. Available: http://www.timely2.com/TQM.htm. [13] T. F. Prosser, "When and Why Does Total Quality Management Work, and Why Isn't It Still Prevalent," n.d.. [Online]. Available: