Pay based on % collections

[New_dentist2017]

Hello, I would like some clarification on pay based on % collections...
I am getting paid on % of collections and I'm not understanding the day sheet. If I produced $3000 for the day, I see that collections is reported to be only $60 for that day. My employer claims that the collections/production ratio is 100% and sometimes over 100%. My last pay check was very low and not nearly 30%. Each day sheet report seems to show a very low amount for collections compared to the production number. Can someone this to me?
Also, any tips on how to keep track of collections so that I know I am getting paid the full amount I produced? If $60 was collected for the $3000 day, how can I track when the other $2940 comes in?
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

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[free99]

How can a collections/production ratio be over 1? That doesn’t make sense to me.

 

[OhioDMD]

I’ll assume you haven’t been at this practice for very long. One of the issues with being paid on collections is lag. Most patients have insurance that will not reimburse for your services for 45 to 60 days. Which means what you do today will not be paid (collected) for 4 to 6 weeks later. If it’s a decent practice with good collection procedures you should see your paycheck increase. Also don’t confuse your production numbers with adjusted production (procedure less insurance adjustments and other write offs) which can skew your actual production numbers.

To make sure you are being paid correctly you will need to get familiar with the PM software and reports. Are the payments received being credited correctly? If not you could be under paid. Does your office offer in house financing or Care Credit? How and when are you credited? Do you do Invisalign or other drawn out treatment similar situation applies.

Due to the time lag and the way patients pay there can be months when collections are over 100% and also months when it is less that 100%.

 

[OCDFlosser]

Hello, I would like some clarification on pay based on % collections...
I am getting paid on % of collections and I'm not understanding the day sheet. If I produced $3000 for the day, I see that collections is reported to be only $60 for that day. My employer claims that the collections/production ratio is 100% and sometimes over 100%. My last pay check was very low and not nearly 30%. Each day sheet report seems to show a very low amount for collections compared to the production number. Can someone this to me?
Also, any tips on how to keep track of collections so that I know I am getting paid the full amount I produced? If $60 was collected for the $3000 day, how can I track when the other $2940 comes in?
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

Hey! I was in your shoes exactly a year ago. Gosh, I feel like an expert on this now! Okay here it goes...

Suppose your office charges $240 for a 2-surface posterior composite (12-DO, for example). If you do one of those, your production for the day will be $240. However, since most patients have insurance (I will specifically refer to PPO assuming you don't work at an office that takes HMO), their insurance company has a "negotiated fee" for that same service (#12-DO). Each insurance negotiates a special fee, which is usually a lot less than your office fee. Humana might pay $170 for the 12-DO, aetna may pay $100, MetLife may pay $80...this is all an agreement that your office makes with each insurance company. Collections for the day will be how much money they collected from the patient for that service (which sometimes may be nothing). The BIGGEST factor in this is if your employer has hired someone to effectively negotiate good fees with each insurance company. Ideally, insurance pays 100% of your fee, but it could be anywhere between 30-85%. My first job, it averaged 35%. My NOW job averages 85%...because they actually take the time and energy to negotiate these fees. For example, if I produced 10K in one day at my old job...I we only ended up "collecting" $3500....and then I got 30% of that...then after taxes it was like nothing. Now, my new job, if I produce 10k in one day, we collect $8500. Don't expect your collections to be the same as your production for the day, because insurance can take weeks to actually pay. Your first paychecks will be smaller and then eventually get bigger after a couple months. Some things you can do to ensure you are collecting as much money as possible is to INFORM the patient of the charges before starting treatment, have them sign their accurate treatment plan (even for xrays) and collect the money for the planned treatment before you even begin working on them. This is a policy we have at our office, and it's very effective. If patients don't like it, too bad, they probably weren't going to pay anyway.

If you have ANY questions at all, PM me. I'd love to help!
-DrW

 

[Steins;Gate]

Hey! I was in your shoes exactly a year ago. Gosh, I feel like an expert on this now! Okay here it goes...

Suppose your office charges $240 for a 2-surface posterior composite (12-DO, for example). If you do one of those, your production for the day will be $240. However, since most patients have insurance (I will specifically refer to PPO assuming you don't work at an office that takes HMO), their insurance company has a "negotiated fee" for that same service (#12-DO). Each insurance negotiates a special fee, which is usually a lot less than your office fee. Humana might pay $170 for the 12-DO, aetna may pay $100, MetLife may pay $80...this is all an agreement that your office makes with each insurance company. Collections for the day will be how much money they collected from the patient for that service (which sometimes may be nothing). The BIGGEST factor in this is if your employer has hired someone to effectively negotiate good fees with each insurance company. Ideally, insurance pays 100% of your fee, but it could be anywhere between 30-85%. My first job, it averaged 35%. My NOW job averages 85%...because they actually take the time and energy to negotiate these fees. For example, if I produced 10K in one day at my old job...I we only ended up "collecting" $3500....and then I got 30% of that...then after taxes it was like nothing. Now, my new job, if I produce 10k in one day, we collect $8500. Don't expect your collections to be the same as your production for the day, because insurance can take weeks to actually pay. Your first paychecks will be smaller and then eventually get bigger after a couple months. Some things you can do to ensure you are collecting as much money as possible is to INFORM the patient of the charges before starting treatment, have them sign their accurate treatment plan (even for xrays) and collect the money for the planned treatment before you even begin working on them. This is a policy we have at our office, and it's very effective. If patients don't like it, too bad, they probably weren't going to pay anyway.

If you have ANY questions at all, PM me. I'd love to help!
-DrW

I am unable to PM you. Feel free to PM me as I have some questions I would love to ask!