Hello, and welcome to season two of Dentistry Support the Podcast with your host, the kindhearted and infectious Sarah Beth Herman. We're back for a new season and ready to pack a punch. In every episode, we'll be sharing you quick, impactful insights into the challenges our dental community and leaders in all industries face.

Expect a little bit of flair, a few laughs, and you might even recognize a friend or two. Because of you, we are the number one podcast in dentistry and number one in management and business, and we couldn't be more excited. To keep bringing you practical wisdom and leadership with a servant's heart all delivered in just enough time for your commute or morning team huddle.

We are glad you're here, so let's get into it. Please welcome your host, Sarah Beth.  

Welcome back everyone to another episode in my series about dental business. I'm your host, Sarah Beth Herman, CEO of dentistry support, and today I'm talking about one of the most important aspects of running a successful dental practice.

And really any business,  billing and preventing revenue leaks. Yeah, you heard that right, preventing revenue leaks. Today we're talking about those small, sometimes overlooked mistakes that can cost your business thousands, if not millions of dollars every year.  If you're not in dental, Listen up, I have a couple of stories that are really going to pack a big punch and also some advice that while it gears towards the dental industry, it can gear towards any business. 

I know what you're thinking. How can I be bleeding money from my practice when I've got patients in the chair, procedures being done, and insurance claims are being filed? Well, I've seen it all. And trust me when I say, those little errors in scheduling, billing, and insurance verification can turn into huge problems over the course of time. 

Now before I get into the real talk of today's episode, I want to share with you two real life stories from dental practices that my company has supported and ultimately got them back on track. These are stories that are important because they show just how serious and how important Even the smallest of mistakes, poor planning, and really poor execution can change everything about your business.

And more importantly, all these mistakes, no matter how real they are, you can definitely avoid them.  Let's start with story number one. The group practice that left nine million dollars sitting in their accounts receivable, specifically their dental insurance accounts receivable.  Let me take you on a trip to North Carolina,  where we worked with a dental group that had seven practices.

A strong operation, right?  There was one major issue, well, probably a couple, that you'll listen to here in just a moment. They had a in house dental billing team. About seven or eight years ago, they decided they were going to outsource, but couldn't find the right company. So they built the entire team off site and in house for them. 

Everything seemed to be working great. But then they decided their systems were outdated, antiquated, weren't working for whatever reason, and they decided to upgrade their system, convert to a totally different dental practice management system.  That's when everything fell apart.  As soon as the conversion happened, their dental billing team refused to touch 9 million worth of outstanding dental insurance claims because, according to the team, it was too complicated.

Too hard. I thought to myself, that's ridiculous, why would anyone say that?  When their CFO called me to chat, I couldn't help but ask them, why are you keeping them employed? I just don't understand staff who is unwilling or refusing to do work. To this staff, it was too complicated because the 9 million in dental insurance claims was in their old dental software, and it was deprecated in their eyes.

They couldn't use it the way they used to, and what I mean by that is when they converted from the old system to the new system, in order for them to be able to use the functionality of the old system, they had to keep up the monthly payment that was required for that to be active. So wherever they stopped after the conversion, the system stayed there and they didn't have the same functionality. 

Basically, they couldn't use the system the way they used to and it made it simply too hard. They felt they had to focus on the current claims and the current office needs. Working on old stuff that quote unquote didn't count anymore was a waste of their time. The biggest takeaway from this situation was that communication and training, they're everything.

You can't expect your team to handle new systems and processes without proper guidance. And you certainly can't afford to let millions of dollars just sit there in limbo. If it were my group, I would have project managed that situation well before we had even decided to convert to a new software.  It kills me when businesses want to implement new practices, but they leave out a key component, revenue.

You can't forget to look at what happens in revenue when you change something. Okay, back to my story. So what did we do? We jumped in with our team and took over their AR for the dental billing on just this nine million dollars. It was a process, but we created workflows, established goals with our team, and set clear expectations with their C suite on what to expect out of our work.

What our processes would be for denied claims or claims that had to be resubmitted. What would we do and how would we track our progress? Yes, we got everything back in order. It took us about nine months to clean up that nine million dollar mess, but we did it.  It helped that we didn't have to work on the current AR and that we could solely focus on the 9 million mess.

We ended up collecting about 85 percent of that 9 million.  No, we didn't charge them a percent of collections, we just charged them the payroll and set goals and we did it. It was actually one of our most amazing accomplishments because the owner of the company had written off that money and never expected to see it again.

And to share with them on their corporate meetings our progress month after month until we got to that ninth month where it was all completely handled and we collected the maximum that we could from that nine million was such a gratifying experience. But get this, after we cleared out that AR, their revenue did stabilize and they were able to streamline their billing process with their own in house team.

The original plan was that we would work with their in house team for a period of time to help them move things along and make sure they didn't get in that situation again. The leader of that billing team had made a request to their C suite to end the contract with us. We weren't given any information about why, but that they just longed to end the contract with us.

They did, and she emailed me about 14 months later looking for a job. She apologized for letting our company go, but she said she couldn't see that they would let her keep her job if we stayed on staff.  That funny part about her wanting the job, it makes me giggle still a little bit. I've learned a lot in dental teams and what a threat we can be when a team that kills it in AR can do to a team who is refusing to work. 

Okay, let me get to my second story. The doctor who lost 200, 000 every month due to,  well, I guess you'll just have to listen.  This second story is unfortunately more common than you think, and I'm sure you're already imagining the worst, and you're probably right.  I worked with a doctor who was producing 400, 000 a month in his practice.

His collections were consistently sitting around 200, 000. He kept saying, dental insurance is a sham. They don't pay enough. That's why I'm not collecting my full production.  And while I do get the frustration with insurance companies, I knew something else had to be going on. After I dug a little bit deeper, I uncovered something that I don't think he saw coming,  and I definitely saw coming. 

His front office team, who had been with him for about four years at this point, was stealing 200, 000 a month. They had set up a P. O. box in his name, and they were rerouting insurance checks there. Not only that, but they had opened a bank account under his name and were funneling money directly into it. 

Imagine finding out that your own team had stolen millions of dollars from you over the course of four years. We worked quickly to help him regain control of his finances. We took over his billing and collections, and within four months, we got everything back on track. Unfortunately, the legal system takes time, and it took about one and a half years for the front office team to be convicted.

Sadly, a significant portion of that stolen money will never be recovered. I want to pause for a second and talk about the importance of monitoring your collections and having checks and balances in place.  According to the ADA, embezzlement in dental practices is alarmingly common, with estimates that up to 60 percent of practices will experience theft at some point.

And I know it's hard to think that your own team could possibly be doing this, but it happens. It happens. And it is devastating. So how do we prevent these kind of situations?  The answer lies in creating efficient workflows and implementing systems that flag unusual activity before it spirals out of control. 

Here are a few best practices that can help.  1. I want you to implement regular financial audits. Don't wait until there's a problem. Regular audits catch inconsistencies early on. Get your team comfortable doing these every other month, or every month if you suspect an issue.  2. Separation of duties. One person should never have complete control over your financial processes.

This means dividing tasks like receiving checks, depositing money, posting payments, handling cash, reconciling accounts. Make sure that multiple people handle this.  Three, monitor your AR closely. If you notice that collections are lagging behind production, dig deeper. Look at where the gaps are. Is the insurance not paying or is it something else?

Is your team actually working on your claims on a consistent basis? I say that with emphasis on purpose. Your team should be working your AR like clockwork, every 14 days pulling a brand new report, collecting all of the money from insurance that you produce in the same month.  Don't just assume they're doing it and don't just take any excuse.

Sit down with your team, get to know what struggles they have, get to know the problems that they're experiencing. Invest in ongoing staff training.  Number four, if you are changing systems or processes, make sure your team is fully trained. We have seen too many practices that lose money simply because their team isn't up to date on best practices.

They don't know what you expect. They're doing some sort of activity that somebody trained them that worked here a million years ago. Now, I know all of this sounds like really basic stuff, but trust me, it matters and you're probably not paying as close of attention to it as you need to.  You wouldn't believe how many practices leave these things to chance.

and end up in a bad spot because of it.  Part of me also thinks that maybe they don't leave it to chance, but they don't know what they don't know. Or they're clouded by long term employees that think these tasks are just for corporate companies, which I think is also kind of crazy. I think corporate dental offices have such a bad reputation for the simple reason that a few bad corporations made mistakes and clouded the word for all of the rest. 

I think there truly exists to be room for all of us. DSOs will be here. They are a profitable business model. And no matter how much bad press they get, they will still exist. So you gotta either get it or choose to be mad that they exist. I choose to not be mad. Let's just make it happen.  Let's get back to the nitty gritty of dental billing. 

These aren't just isolated horror stories that I'm sharing with you. Small administrative errors are costing practices thousands of dollars every year. Let me run through a few quick statistics for you. Scheduling slip ups can cost practices up to 150, 000 annually due to no shows and double bookings. I mean, you can avoid this by simply having a process in place.

Don't get me wrong, I have had to lose money also in my businesses because I had a lack of processes. But this is an easy one in a dental office. 150, 000 is literally 10, 000 to 12, 000 a month. That's 500 a day on a 20 business day month.  That's two hygiene appointments canceled per day or one too filling patient. 

Insurance verification mistakes add up to 30, 000 to 60, 000 a year in lost revenue. Billing mishaps drain 5 10 percent of a practice's annual revenue. For a practice making 1, 000, 000 a year, that's 50, 000 100, 000 just gone. These errors add up fast, and if they're not addressed, they can snowball into much bigger problems. 

You know, every month I sit down with dentists just like you,  those who've built their practices from the ground up, who care deeply about their teams and their patients, they've poured their heart and soul into their work, and often they're overwhelmed by the weight of it all. But here's what I always tell them.

It's not about overhauling everything at once or striving for perfection. It's about implementing best practices, little shifts in how you do things that make a world of difference. And that's something we tend to forget when we're caught up in the day to day challenges. The truth is we often complicate things, right?

We mix our emotions with tasks that are purely operational. And I get it. We love our business, our teams, and our patients. It is personal. So when people say it's business, not personal, it's hard to fully embrace that because our emotions are tied to everything that we do. But here is the key, just because something is personal doesn't mean it has to be overwhelming.

You can love your practice and still make things easier by removing the unnecessary layers of complexity. One of the most important lessons I coach and mentor on is this,  simplicity is powerful.  When we break down tasks and streamline processes, we create flow. And when there's flow, there's ease. You can still have that personal touch, you can still care deeply, but it's about learning to marry that.

With systems and processes that serve your business. Because without those, it's too easy to get lost in the chaos. And when that happens, we start losing control of the very thing we care so much about.  I often remind the dentists that I work with, that you don't have to sacrifice your personal connection to build efficiency.

In fact, those two can coexist beautifully.  But the way you do that is by taking the emotion out of the tasks themselves and putting emotion where it belongs. With your patience, your team, and your mission, you create the systems that support you so that the business doesn't drain you. That's how you not only save your business but make it thrive. 

What I really want to leave you with today is this. The most successful practices are the ones that understand the balance between passion and process.  It's the dentist who says, I want to make a difference, but I also need to create a foundation where my practice can stand strong, without me micromanaging every single detail.

That's the sweet spot,  and I promise you, you can get there.  I encourage you to take a moment to step back and ask yourself, where am I overcomplicating things? Where am I adding emotions to tasks that simply need systems? And once you identify those areas, remember, it's not about fixing everything overnight.

It's about starting small and building from there. Small consistent changes lead to incredible transformations over time. We all love what we do, and it's that love that should drive us to create practices that are sustainable, efficient, and strong.  You deserve to feel empowered, not overwhelmed. And that happens when we stop letting the complexities hold us back and start building with intention. 

All right, friends, it's time for our TGM, our that's good moment. Let's bring everything together with one final thought.  If there's one thing I've learned over my 25 years in business, it's this. Numbers tell a story, but it's up to you to write the ending. Revenue, production, AR, collections. These aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet.

They're the heartbeat of your practice. They show you where things are thriving and where things need attention. And the best part? You have the power to change the story when you take control of those numbers.  Here's a quote I've been living by lately when it comes to revenue and practice management.

If you can measure it, you can manage it. And that's the truth. The moment you start paying attention to your numbers, understanding what they mean and taking action on them, that's the moment you take control of your practice's success. Today, we talked about how easily practices can lose money through simple errors, whether it's a missed appointment, incorrect billing, or not keeping an eye on accounts receivables.

But we also talked about the power of simplicity. When you streamline your processes, when you take the emotion out of the tasks and put the systems in place, your practice begins to flow.  Efficiency doesn't mean losing your personal touch. It means giving your business the foundation it needs to thrive.

So let's recap the key points from today's episode.  Small mistakes add up, scheduling errors, billing blunders, the denied claims. They quietly drain your revenue if you're not careful.  Embrace simplicity. It's not about doing more. It's about doing things better, implementing simple, efficient workflows that make all the difference. 

Numbers tell a story. Pay attention to your practice's revenue, AR, and collections. These are the indicators that will guide you to success when you manage them well.  So here's my challenge to you.  Start writing the story you want your numbers to tell.  Take the time to simplify your processes, implement the systems you need, and take charge of your practice's financial health. 

When you do, you'll not only see your revenue grow, but you'll feel the peace that comes from running a business that works for you, not against you. That's it for today's TGM. I'm Sarah Beth Herman, and remember, you hold the pen. Now go write the next chapter of your success. I'll catch you on the 

next episode.

Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Dentistry Support, the podcast. If you want to get in on the conversation or have something to share, join us on our Facebook group, The Dental Collaborative. Looking to connect or to be a guest? Head over to  DentistrySupport. com. Or if you'd like to learn more about your host, Sarah Beth, or maybe you're thinking of starting your own podcast, Cast or looking for mentorship opportunities, well just visit sarah beth herman.com.

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