7 Ways to Improve Your Dental Invoices

Reviewing the content and format of your dental practice invoices to ensure every essential element is covered and all relevant information is conveyed to patients can be helpful to your dental practice. Whether you want to start from scratch to revamp your dental invoice template or tweak what already exists, read on for seven tips that can help you improve your dental practice invoices.

1. Get Back to Dental Invoice Basics

Dental invoices should be clear for the billing process, patient clarity, compliance with dental billing codes and best practices of your office. Every invoice template should include provider and patient information that is up to date, including:

• Full name
• Contact information
• Date of service
• Invoice number
• Treatments
• Service descriptions

2. Be Clear About Treatment Costs

The dental invoice is primarily about communicating costs, so this information needs to be clear and detailed. Confusion can be avoided and the payment process made smoother and easier when you include the following components on invoices:

• Cost breakdown. Provide a cost breakdown for every dental procedure. Include notations about insurance coverage, discounts or health savings accounts. These details help inform patients about the cost of their dentistry.
• Total amount due. Highlight the total amount owed after insurance contributions, if applicable, as well as payment due at the time of service. Review this information in detail with each patient so they understand their costs.
• Payment terms. Make payment terms clear — including due date, late payments and penalties — and offer financing solutions, such as third-party patient financing through a health and wellness credit card like CareCredit.

3. Keep Up With Dental Coding

Dental invoices are for you as much as they are for your patients, so it makes sense to include accurate dental codes along with each treatment description. This inclusion of codes makes the dental billing process more efficient, allows for easy reference and ensures consistency in documenting dental services provided. Some dental procedures might fall under medical coding instead of dental, so the notations must be assigned accurately to avoid denial of claims in the billing process.¹

Dental codes change and the list expands annually, which can make billing efforts complex.² Keep coding information handy when you're doing your billing to help avoid the time-consuming work of uncovering the correct codes for treatment.

4. Automate the Dental Invoice Process

Dental invoices are easy to create when there is a template for every billing possibility in your dental billing software. Benefits to automating the invoicing process through dedicated dental billing technology include:

• Customization. Create a master invoice template for your practice and patients, and customize as needed.
• Excellent patient experience. Help create a better patient experience with quick, accurate billing.
• Increased productivity. Minimize manual billing tasks and workflow inefficiencies, and process claims more quickly.¹
• Stay relevant on codes. Maintain accuracy with a system designed to automatically include industry updates on coding changes.¹

5. Highlight Payment Options

Use some of that dental invoice real estate to break down the patient payment options. All relevant details help a patient be informed about their oral healthcare costs. According to Synchrony's Dental Lifetime of Care Study, 58% of respondents believe dental care is not affordable, and that can create serious worry about dental health.³ Help break through the concerns by arming patients with information.

Itemize the amount covered by insurance, the out-of-pocket costs and how a financing option can separate the final amount into manageable payments. Give patients the power to choose their payment method and believe in the worthiness of investing in their oral health.

If your dental practice accepts CareCredit as a form of payment, check out this approved billing statement messaging and downloadable bill insert.

6. Prioritize Your Patients

Proper dental invoicing is not only important for maintaining financial efficiency for your dental office — it's also essential for creating and maintaining a positive patient financial experience. You can use this information to help empower your patients by doing the following:

• Review the dental practice invoice with each patient, pointing out even the smallest details and explaining their benefits.
• Cover personalized payment methods that were decided upon prior to the date of treatment so the patient's responsibility is clear.
• Reiterate policies surrounding payment requirements, due dates, late payments and quick and convenient ways to pay, like an online patient portal.

7. Create a Dental Invoicing Dialogue

Dental invoices are part of how you communicate with your patients, so it's important to provide a clear and intuitive invoice. The email or paper that documents treatment and costs is something patients take with them and review as needed. Every line communicates an important element of their dental care and their relationship with you and your dental team.

Don’t hesitate to ask your patients what they want from the dental invoicing process:

• Do they appreciate an automated system?
• Would they like to receive bill reminders every month?
• Would it help to be able to click further into the dentist invoice and read even more detailed descriptions of procedures?

The amount of efficiency and automation you provide is up to you, but don’t be afraid to use the resources at your disposal to help increase patient satisfaction.

The Importance of Effective Dental Billing and Collection

Effective billing, invoicing and collection at your dental office benefits both the patient and your practice. When patient costs are transparent and clear, it may be easier to collect payment and help improve the dental patient relationship. Following dental billing best practices can especially help any dental office establish an effective routine when it comes to dental billing and collection.⁴

Patients have different levels of dental insurance coverage, and some don’t have coverage at all, but every individual also has personal preferences when it comes to how they pay for treatment. Offering a financing option — such as dental financing from CareCredit — can help patients move forward with the dental care they want or need and may already be integrated into your practice management system.

A Dental Patient Financing Solution for Your Practice

Want to help more patients move forward with the dental care they want or need? Consider offering CareCredit as a financing solution. CareCredit allows patients to pay for out-of-pocket dental care costs over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice.

When you accept CareCredit, patients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a dental patient financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Elizabeth Weiss is a freelance writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience in content development for dentistry, orthodontics and cosmetic dermatology. She focuses on making healthcare topics accessible to readers and contributes to many fields, from family and estate law to industrial services and landscape design.

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