Medical

Oral health is a field ripe with misconceptions and “common wisdom” which is wrong more frequently than it’s right. In an effort to help correct some of this bad information we present ten common dental myths and explain the truth behind them.

#1: Sugar Causes Cavities

This is partially true, which is why the belief is so widely held. But in fact, sugar doesn’t cause cavities directly. Instead, it’s the bacteria that feed on the sugar you eat that is responsible for tooth decay.

That means eating sugary foods is fine for your teeth as long as you’re brushing and flossing regularly to prevent plaque and keep the bacteria in your mouth in check.

#2: The Harder You Brush, The Better

Many people think that brushing is more effective the harder you press the bristles into your teeth. But this isn’t true when it comes to oral health. In fact, brushing too hard can be damaging.

When you press too firmly you wear at the gums that support the roots of your teeth. Over time this can lead to gum recession and can damage tooth enamel. The reason this extra force isn’t necessary is two-fold.

Brushing removes the soft plaque on your teeth, the bacterial film that builds up throughout the day. It doesn’t take a lot of force to disrupt the structure and wash it away. Plaque that has already hardened into tartar, however, is extremely strong, and no amount of brushing, no matter how hard, will remove it. So go easy on your teeth.

#3: You Only Need to Visit the Dentist When Your Teeth Hurt

Many of us only see the doctor when we’re sick, so the logic goes that we only need to see the dentist when our teeth hurt. But both of these are misconceptions for the same reason.

Preventative health maintenance is just as important as seeing a doctor when there are problems. We should get regular check-ups even when we feel fine to make sure there aren’t developing problems, and we need to see the dentist on a regular basis, too, even if our teeth feel fine.

Regular, professional dental cleanings remove tartar build up that brushing and flossing alone can’t get. This tartar, left unchecked can lead to gum disease. Also, regular dental visits can help identify problems early, before they start causing pain, which aids in reversing the issue.

#4: You Shouldn’t Brush or Floss If Your Gums Are Bleeding

This misconception is common because people assume that their brushing or flossing is somehow responsible for the bleeding. But in fact, not brushing or flossing can make the problem worse.

This is because it’s the bacteria that builds on your teeth and under the gumline that’s responsible for weakening the gums and causing them to bleed. Brushing and flossing remove that bacteria, leading to healthier gums. They may bleed a few times, but the bleeding will stop if you keep up your cleaning regimen.

#5: Baby Teeth Don’t Matter Because They’re Going to Fall Out Anyway

It’s true that the teeth themselves are expendable, but they serve as placeholders for a child’s future, permanent teeth. The spacing and alignment of baby teeth help guide the growth of adult teeth, so if a child gets cavities in their baby teeth it can affect the growth pattern of the teeth that replace them.

#6: White Teeth Equal Healthy Teeth

Sometimes yes, but not always. Teeth can discolor because of health issues, but they can also be stained by smoking and by certain foods and beverages. Stained or yellowish teeth do not automatically mean there is a health issue.

The more pernicious problem with this belief is the idea that using teeth whiteners will lead to healthier teeth. Whitening your teeth will only make them whiter. It won’t fix underlying issues.

#7: Diet Soda Won’t Hurt Your Teeth Because it Doesn’t Have Sugar

This is wrong in two ways. We learned earlier that sugar itself isn’t a problem for teeth, which means regular soda isn’t any worse for your teeth than diet soda. And both can damage your teeth because soda is extremely acidic.

Both regular and diet soda contain carbonic acid, which is created by the carbonation process, as well as small amounts of citric acid and phosphoric acid. This acid content can degrade tooth enamel as well as cause tooth sensitivity.

#8: You Should Brush Your Teeth After Every Meal

Many people assume that the reason we brush our teeth is to clean away food particles. For this reason, they think it’s best to brush each time they eat.

This isn’t the case. Brushing is intended to remove soft plaque, and interrupt the process which hardens it into tartar. As long as we brush twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, we’re sufficiently cleaning our teeth. Brushing after every meal is unnecessary and can be damaging to tooth enamel.

#9: If You Eat After Brushing At Night You Need to Brush Again

This is wrong for the same reason you don’t need to brush after every meal. Food particles don’t cause tooth decay. They only serve as food for the bacteria in the plaque that accumulates on your teeth.

When you brush, you break up this plaque and rinse it away. Eating after brushing does little to affect your teeth because the bacteria that would feed on it aren’t present in sufficient numbers. So if you have a midnight snack, don’t worry about brushing again.

#10: Once A Tooth Has a Crown or a Filling It Can’t Get a Cavity

Not only can you still get a cavity in these teeth, in some cases a cavity is more likely. That’s because plaque and tartar can form around the margin where the crown or filling meets the tooth. If this is allowed to fester decay can begin. It’s important to care for all of your teeth, even those with fillings or crowns.

All misconceptions aside, as long as your brushing your teeth twice a day, flossing, and getting regular, professional dental cleanings and checkups, you’re giving your teeth the best chance they can get for a long and healthy life.

If you are looking for a dental collection agency to address your accounts receivable: Contact us

Data consistently indicates that medical issues are the primary driver behind approximately 66.5% of all personal bankruptcies.

Medical debt is not a “budgeting problem.” It’s a structural trap—one that can hit insured, working, middle-class households just as hard as anyone else.

And the scale is no longer debatable: Americans owe at least $220 billion in medical debt. About 20 million adults (nearly 1 in 12) carry medical debt, including roughly 14 million who owe more than $1,000, and about 3 million who owe more than $10,000.

The Bankruptcy Link: Big, Real… and Easy to Mis-measure

You’ll often see a single headline number—“medical debt causes ~X% of bankruptcies.” Those figures typically come from surveys asking filers whether medical bills or illness contributed to their bankruptcy.

That matters, because health-related financial collapse isn’t just a hospital invoice. It’s usually a two-part shock:

• The expense shock: deductibles, coinsurance, out-of-network charges, and repeat billing errors.

• The income shock: missed work, reduced hours, disability, caregiving, job loss.

Some researchers argue the biggest “medical bankruptcy” claims can be overstated depending on the definition, and they caution against turning a complex chain of causes into a single percentage.

But here’s the point that survives every methodology fight: medical events reliably produce severe financial distress and often push already-tight households into insolvency. Bankruptcy may be the last step—after savings are drained, credit is maxed, and collections begin.

The “Insured Trap”: Coverage Isn’t the Same as Protection

The old narrative—“this only happens to the uninsured”—doesn’t match modern reality.

• Nearly one in four adults ages 18–64 are underinsured: covered on paper, exposed in practice through high out-of-pocket costs and deductibles.

• In 2025, the average annual premium for employer family coverage is about $26,993, with workers paying around $6,850 out of pocket just for the premium—before they even use care.

• On top of that, the average single deductible in employer plans (among plans with a deductible) is about $1,787. And family deductibles in many plan types commonly sit in the $3,000–$5,000 range.

This is how you end up with “good insurance” and a five-figure balance anyway: premiums to keep coverage, then deductibles to access it, then coinsurance to finish the job.

The Hidden Engine of Debt: Denials, Confusion, and “Ghost Networks”

Medical debt often isn’t born from one catastrophic bill. It’s born from friction—the system repeatedly failing people in small but expensive ways.

Denials are a major accelerant. In ACA Marketplace plans, insurers denied about 19% of in-network claims and 37% of out-of-network claims in 2023 (roughly 20% overall).

Then there’s the access illusion: “ghost networks”—provider directories packed with listings that are inaccurate, unreachable, or not actually accepting patients.

What that means in real life:

You try to stay in-network. The directory lies (or is outdated). You get care anyway—because you have to. And suddenly an “in-network plan” becomes an out-of-network bill with none of the financial guardrails people assume exist.

The Credit Report Paradox: Relief, Then Whiplash

For years, medical collections were a major credit-score landmine. Medical collections tradelines appeared on tens of millions of credit reports, and medical bills made up a large share of collections on credit records.

There was a push to remove medical debt from credit reports more broadly—but the policy story turned messy.

• A rule finalized in January 2025 aimed to keep medical debt off consumer credit reports.

• In July 2025, a federal judge vacated that rule.

So if families believed “medical debt won’t affect credit anymore,” that can be a dangerous assumption. Some medical debt may be excluded in certain circumstances, but credit relief is not the same as debt relief—and it can change with courts and regulations.

When Credit Pressure Drops, Lawsuits Become the Weapon of Choice

Even when medical debt isn’t devastating someone’s credit, it can still be collected—often aggressively.

Provider collection policies vary widely. Many hospitals allow at least one “extraordinary collection action,” such as wage garnishment, selling debt, or denying non-emergency care for unpaid balances.

And the lawsuit pathway isn’t theoretical. A major study of physician-driven medical debt lawsuits in one metro area found nearly 1,000 lawsuits (Jan 2020–May 2023) from two large physician groups, with disproportionate harms in lower-income communities—often ending in judgments and wage garnishments.

That’s the real pipeline:
bill → dispute/denial → collections → lawsuit → judgment → wage garnishment → bankruptcy becomes “protection,” not “failure.”

Who Gets Hit Hardest

Medical debt isn’t evenly distributed.

The “working years” squeeze (18–64): Underinsurance is concentrated here, and this group is most exposed to job-linked coverage volatility and high cost-sharing.

Families living paycheck-to-paycheck: Even a “moderate” balance becomes lethal when savings are thin and rent, food, and car payments don’t pause.

People who try to do everything right: The insured who stayed in-network (until the directory was wrong). The patient who assumed the claim would be paid (until it wasn’t). The parent who thought the bill was inaccurate but couldn’t get answers fast enough.

What People Actually Do to Survive

This is where the crisis stops being abstract.

Among households with medical debt:

• 63% cut spending on basics like food and clothing.

• 48% use up most or all of their savings.

And increasingly, they borrow:

• 12% of U.S. adults—about 31 million people—report borrowing money to pay for healthcare, totaling an estimated $74 billion in a year.

That isn’t “irresponsible.” That’s triage.

The Bottom Line

Medical debt is unique because it’s not optional. You can postpone a vacation. You can downgrade a car. You cannot “opt out” of a stroke, a cancer diagnosis, a complicated pregnancy, or a child’s emergency surgery.

Until wages, plan design, provider access, and billing enforcement stop shifting costs onto households, the U.S. will keep running the same grim system:

health event → financial event → legal event → bankruptcy as the final insurance policy.

 

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Many clients of Occupational Therapy Centers do not want to use their insurance to make payment for the treatments received. Such clients are often unable to pay their medical bills as promised. Unpaid bills are a big problem for Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation centers. Selecting a collection agency with extensive experience working with Occupational Therapy doctors and professionals makes a big difference in the recovery rates.

Medicare and some other payers have limits on how much they will pay for therapy services in a given year. Therapists must track their patients’ progress toward these limits to avoid providing services that will not be reimbursed. Low reimbursement rates from payers can make it difficult for occupational therapy practices to stay profitable. This is particularly an issue with Medicaid, which is a major payer for many practices but often has lower reimbursement rates than other payers.

Difference between Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy

You’ve suffered an injury and you need therapy to aid in your recovery. You’re familiar with the terms physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT), but it’s unclear which one would be most appropriate or which might help the most.

You’re not alone. To the uninitiated, these therapeutic practices can seem like the same thing. They’re both concerned with rehabilitation and offer advice on maximizing the healing process. They also both work with patients to avoid injuries in the future.

But the two focus on different aspects of the recovery process and often use different techniques to accomplish their goals. For many patients, there isn’t a choice between PT and OT. They’re complementary practices, and one often follows after the other. So which do you need? You might need both. Let’s look more closely at the differences.

Occupational Therapy helps to improve mechanical and motor operational skills to perform everyday functions. Physical Therapy prevents long-term pain through exercise and treatment.

Occupational Therapy helps to regain a sense of independence. Physical Therapy attempts to help to gain full mobility in damaged areas.

Occupational Therapy helps to regain happiness and confidence. Works on mental aspects as well. Physical Therapy helps to perform everyday activities. Focuses mainly on the physical aspect only.

Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy often work together during comprehensive Rehabilitation Therapy.

What Does Physical Therapy Focus On?

Physical therapists are concerned with diagnosing and repairing injuries. Their therapeutic techniques focus on restoring range of motion and balance, rebuilding muscle strength, getting bones back into proper alignment, and helping patients recover gross motor abilities.

Physical therapists most commonly employ stretching, mobility exercises, and massage and use their intensive understanding of human anatomy to help patients recover from their injuries and reduce or eliminate associated pain. These interventions are often performed to help patients avoid surgery and the complications that can come with that.

Someone who has been in a bad car accident, and suffered considerable damage to their legs, will usually benefit from physical therapy. Both the damage itself and the muscle loss caused by being off their feet during the recuperation period can cause significant difficulties in regaining the proper balance, muscle tone, and strength to walk. A physical therapist would work with this patient to recover their joint flexibility and the range of motion needed to reestablish full mobility.

Physical therapists focus strictly on healing the body. Occupational therapists take a more holistic approach.

What Does Occupational Therapy Focus On?

Occupational therapists aren’t trained in the healing modalities used by physical therapists. Their focus is less on repairing the body and more on helping patients recover their quality of life. They work with patients to regain fine motor control and learn ways to work around their disabilities and limitations so that they can perform daily tasks again.

They look at how a patient’s injuries affect their daily life and help them build a plan to regain the functionality important to them.

Occupational therapists don’t restrict their work to people that have suffered an injury. They also regularly help people that are disabled and developmentally or cognitively challenged. Rehabilitation is central to their work, but they also help individuals learn new skills in a way that works for their impairment.

Someone who lost a hand in an accident might turn to an occupational therapist to learn strategies for getting themselves dressed, preparing food, and taking care of other tasks that are now more difficult for them.

Occupational therapists help patients learn to live with their injuries and disabilities, while physical therapists attempt to heal them as much as possible.

How Do the Two Work Together?

The two disciplines can be employed separately, but many patients benefit from both.

Revisiting our car accident victim from earlier, he would need to undergo intensive physical therapy in order to regain their ability to walk. Once that milestone has been achieved, an occupational therapist might step in to help the patient recover task-based abilities that fall outside the physical therapy purview.

Residual joint tightness and muscle damage might make it difficult for this patient to put their pants on in the morning or to bend over far enough to tie their shoes. An occupational therapist would work with them on strategies and exercises to help them either regain their former ability or learn new ways of accomplishing these tasks.

Physical therapy helps patients recover from their injuries as much as possible, attempting to avoid surgery and dependence on pain medications. Occupational therapists help fill in the gaps in their lives that are left when complete recovery isn’t possible. In this way, the two disciplines combine to give people back as much of a patient’s previous quality of life as possible.

Which type of therapy you need depends on whether you need to heal from an injury or whether you need to learn to live with that injury or disability. Both are extremely effective in their specific area of influence.

Want fewer AR days, not just prettier reports?

Medical and dental practices today are squeezed from both sides:

• More patients carry high-deductible plans and higher out-of-pocket costs.

• Around 36–41% of U.S. adults report having medical or dental debt.

• Median net days in A/R has drifted into the high 40s in many organizations, while best-practice targets are under 30 days (up to ~45 often considered the upper “acceptable” limit).

In other words: even if your revenue cycle looks “okay” on paper, AR days may already be eroding your margins.

Below is a modernized, practical guide to measuring, understanding, and reducing AR days for healthcare providers.

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What “good” AR actually looks like

Before you try to fix AR, you need a realistic target.

Typical current benchmarks:

• Net days in A/R (DAR / DSO)

  • Best performers: under 30 days

  • Generally acceptable: up to 40–45 days

  • Red zone: consistently 50+ days

• A/R over 90 days

  • Many RCM experts recommend keeping less than 15% of A/R in the 90+ day bucket.

If your reports show net A/R days in the high 40s and a large slice of receivables over 90 days, you don’t just have “slow payers”—you have a process problem.

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Step 1: Get brutally clear on your current AR performance

You can’t reduce AR days if you don’t know exactly where you stand.

1. Calculate your DAR (Days in Accounts Receivable)

• Add up total charges for the last 6 months.

• Divide by the number of days in that period → this gives you average daily charges.

• Now take your current total A/R and divide it by your average daily charges.

That number is your DAR.

If you’re under 30–40 days, you’re in strong shape.
If you’re 40–50 days, you’re average to strained.
If you’re 50+, AR is likely draining cash and staff time.

2. Look beyond the single number

Pull an aging report and review:

• A/R by bucket: 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, 120+ days

• Insurance vs patient responsibility

• Top 5 payers by volume and their average payment lag

• High-dollar accounts stuck in 90+ days

You’ll quickly see patterns: certain payers, certain service lines, or certain locations where claims and patient balances stall.

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Step 2: Fix front-end issues that create avoidable AR

A surprising amount of AR bloat starts before the patient ever sees a bill.

Focus on:

Accurate registration and eligibility

• Verify demographics, coverage, and plan details at each visit, not just the first one.

• Use electronic eligibility tools where possible to reduce “not covered” or “terminated plan” denials.

Prior authorizations and medical necessity

• Track which procedures and payers trigger the most authorization-related denials and design standard workflows or checklists for them.

Up-front financial conversations

• With high-deductible plans and average deductibles well over $1,700 for single coverage, patients are often shocked by their share.

• Provide pre-service estimates and basic counseling so patients know what to expect.

No Surprises Act & Good Faith Estimates

For uninsured or self-pay patients, the No Surprises Act generally requires giving a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of expected charges in advance. If the final bill is significantly higher than the estimate, patients can dispute it.

Doing GFEs properly:

• Reduces disputes and delays

• Builds trust

• Protects you from regulatory risk

Good front-end work doesn’t just avoid compliance fines; it keeps more balances from turning into surprised, angry, and delinquent AR.

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Step 3: Tighten claims and denial management

Claim denials are a hidden AR factory. Every denial adds days, rework, and the risk that the claim will never be paid.

Standardize clean-claim practices

• Use edits and rules in your practice management or clearinghouse system to catch errors before submission.

• Focus on top denial reasons (missing info, coding, authorization, medical necessity) and build specific fixes.

Track denial KPIs

• Initial denial rate

• First-pass resolution rate

• Average days to correct and resubmit

Even a modest improvement in denial rate can shave several days off AR and prevent claims from sliding into 90+ territory.

Close the loop with coding and clinical teams

• Share patterns: “This payer is denying X procedure for Y diagnosis; here’s how we can document differently or pre-authorize in advance.”

• A certified coder or seasoned billing specialist is often worth every penny in reduced denials and faster reimbursement.

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Step 4: Shorten your billing cycle and make statements smarter

The original weekly or monthly cycles many practices used are now too slow.

Bill as close to the date of service as possible

• Submit insurance claims daily, not in big weekly batches.

• Generate patient statements once the primary payer posts and the patient share is known.

Use clear, patient-friendly statements

• Show service dates, payer payments, adjustments, and the exact reason the patient owes a balance.

• Avoid cryptic codes and jargon that drive dispute calls and delays.

Set expectations on timing

• Spell out your payment window (e.g., “payment expected within 20 days of statement date”).

• Include what happens if no payment or arrangement is made (second notice, internal collections, potential referral to a third-party agency).

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Step 5: Make it ridiculously easy to pay

If paying you is hard, AR days will rise—no matter how well you code and bill.

Offer as many secure payment options as practical:

• Online portal with card and ACH

• Mobile-optimized statements with click-to-pay

• IVR or live phone payments

• In-office card terminals and contactless options

• Mailed checks for patients who still prefer paper

Combine this with:

• Email/SMS reminders with direct payment links

• Payment plans for larger balances, with automated recurring drafts

• Optional third-party patient financing for high-ticket procedures, if appropriate for your setting

Older patients and those with limited tech comfort still exist, so don’t kill paper entirely—but make sure digital is front and center.

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Step 6: Set hard rules for aged AR and stick to them

Here’s where many organizations fall short. They do all the right things early, then let aged AR linger.

Design clear rules such as:

Internal follow-up window

• 0–30 days: standard statement / reminder flow

• 31–60 days: targeted phone outreach or text reminders

• 61–90 days: last internal attempt plus final notice

Escalation to third-party collections

For example:

• Any patient balance ≥ $200

• No payment or arrangement by 90 days

• At least two statements and one successful contact attempt

→ Eligible for placement with a medical collection agency under your instructions and compliance expectations.

For very old A/R (120+ days), focus on cleanup:

• Decide which accounts to batch to collections

• Which to close/write off

• How to prevent similar accounts from aging that far in the future

Remember benchmark guidance: try to keep less than 15% of A/R in the 90+ bucket.

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Step 7: Use analytics and automation, not just effort

Manual AR work doesn’t scale. Modern revenue cycles lean on:

• RCM dashboards and BI tools to see payer lag, denial trends, and responsible departments in real time.

• Automation / AI for:

  • Worklist prioritization (highest-value or highest-risk accounts first)

  • Automated reminders and statements

  • Predicting which accounts are most likely to go bad without intervention

Even basic automation—like automatically creating work queues for 60–90 day accounts or auto-triggering patient reminders—can chip away at AR days without adding headcount.

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Step 8: Recognize when professional collections are the right tool

Given that a large share of households carry medical debt, it’s unrealistic to think internal staff can resolve every delinquent balance.

A healthcare-focused collection agency:

• Understands HIPAA and privacy constraints

• Operates under FDCPA and state collection laws

• Uses skip-tracing, call strategies, and negotiation skills your team doesn’t have time for

• Can sometimes leverage credit reporting or legal channels (where allowed and appropriate)

Your job is to:

• Define which accounts go to collections, and when

• Set tone and boundaries (e.g., no aggressive tactics, focus on payment plans)

• Monitor performance and patient complaints

Done right, third-party collections is not about being harsh—it’s about ensuring that earned revenue doesn’t quietly die in the 120-day column.

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Bringing it all together

Reducing AR days is not one project; it’s an ongoing discipline across the entire revenue cycle:

• Front end: clean data, eligibility, authorizations, estimates

• Mid cycle: claim quality, denial management, smart billing and communication

• Back end: easy payments, firm aging rules, and the right collections partner

You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. Start by:

1. Measuring your current DAR and % of A/R over 90 days.

2. Fixing the one or two biggest bottlenecks you see in that data.

3. Putting written rules in place for when aged accounts escalate to collections.

Over time, those changes translate into fewer AR days, better cash flow, and less staff burnout—without compromising patient relationships or care.

In today’s competitive healthcare space, running your own medical practice is both rewarding and challenging. It’s a constant balancing act between providing long-lasting, quality patient care, and optimizing business profitability. Also, many important aspects such as dealing with crushing administrative tasks and rising operating costs come into play.

The truth is, many new medical practitioners aren’t cognizant of the business side of running a practice, thus they struggle to make a profit. You may be one of them. If so, you’re probably not bringing in the profits you should be.

To help you earn more profit, we have included some strategies that’ll get you in a more entrepreneurial mindset. These strategies can have a powerful impact on your bottom line if executed well.

1. Build an Online Presence, Get a website.

We live in a digital age where almost everyone uses the internet daily. It would be wise to build your own online presence to make it easy for new to find you on the internet. More and more people are using the internet to research and book their next medical appointment. Which means that your online presence is an integral part of your practice’s marketing and visibility strategy. It is therefore important to

• Have a  medical or dental website that serves as your digital home that should have clear information on your services offered, practitioners, and access to a patient portal or booking system.
• Be knowledgeable about SEO. SEO is a powerful online marketing tool that will benefit you for a long run in your online patient recruitment proclivities, so make good use of it.
• Use social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. These are all online platforms where a huge chunk of your current patients and potential patients hang out. It is important to keep your patients informed and engaged so post content with important and helpful information, provide helpful tips and news on your clinic. By doing so, you are attracting new clients and building a strong referral network at the same time.
• Online reviews: Online reviews like Google, Yelp and BBB reviews are the equivalent of word-of-mouth and are the most trusted way to build a strong online reputation.

2. Transfer Accounts Receivable to a Collection Agency

You know very well, accounts who have been past due for over 60-90 days are hardest to collect. Over 90% of those patients will not pay even after repeated calls from your staff.  Assigning accounts to a Collection Agency is a game-changer. A medical collection agency is usually able to recover over 50% accounts receivable which are assigned to them between 60 and 90 days. You cannot beat the collection rate and cost-effectiveness of a collection agency.

3. Market Your Practice

In this age, relying on old marketing models is a surefire way to lose clients. Today you have to show your community what makes you the best choice for their needs. No longer can you wait for clients to come to you, instead you will have to be proactive and enticing.

You can try a variety of marketing and public relations tactics that require almost no funds, or you can invest money in a more effective marketing campaign that will raise awareness of your practice and increase your patient base such as advertising and participating in free healthcare checkup camps.

4. Automate patient reminders

Whether it’s an appointment reminder for an annual check-up or an update for a patient whose test results are ready, good dialogue with your patients helps deliver a quality experience and increase patient loyalty. The good news is that you can automatically send your patients’ reminders by setting them up through your medical practice management software.

5. Provide a patient portal

A patient portal is a website that leverages cloud technology to enable instant access to medical information for patients. In addition to that, it also reduces the time spent on administration for practitioners, thus freeing up time in their busy schedule to work on other essential tasks.

Another benefit of the patient portal is that it allows your patients to book and reschedule appointments which significantly reduces patient no-shows. Practitioners can set up automated reminders for any health check-ups that are needed and share real-time information with patients.

6. Monitor Competition

It is important to remember that you are not just a physician, you are also an entrepreneur. This means that all the physicians in your vicinity who are providing the same services as you are your competition. Every patient, they treat is one that could’ve been yours.

For this reason, it would benefit you to monitor your competition to understand how they gain patients. The easiest way to do this is through the internet. Conduct a Google search to find out what they might be doing that you aren’t. If they provide a popular service that you are not providing yet, feel free to copy them. Make sure to provide a high-quality service with exceptional customer service to keep your new clients coming.

7. Increase First-Pass Resolution Rate

Increasing your first-pass resolution rate (FPRR) also known as the “clean claims rate” is a great way to improve your practice profitability more quickly and efficiently. By doing this you will be reimbursed on the first pass. This limits the turnaround time for reimbursement and the money can be more directly reinvested in the practice.

8. Incorporate a seamless billing system

Every company, regardless of size, relies on steady cash flow to operate effectively. Billing is the door that allows the cash flow to enter the business, thus it is a crucial part of your practice success. But the billing process can be tedious, time-consuming and mistake-prone, especially if you are managing different fee schedules.

This automated billing process like AthenaHealth can upload receipts and invoices to the patient portal as soon as a patient has finished their consultation. The automated billing process can also send automated SMS or email reminders for overdue payments.

Present your patients with one straightforward amount with a short breakup below, rather than sending multiple invoices. Your patients will be more comfortable paying the bill. This will also minimize any confusion and hostility.

9. Take Business Courses

Running your own medical practice is a business, and as an entrepreneur, the only way to be successful is to understand the nuts and bolts of running a company. While the internet offers a myriad of physician business tips, attending business courses still provides the most in-depth learning experience. Reduce stress and be cheerful with your patients and staff.

Fortunately, Physician-focused business programs have been blossoming all across the country and some of these are certificate programs available at prestigious universities. The flip side of taking courses is the time and money you’ll have to invest. But in the long run, the investment in more formal education should pay for itself.

10. Avoid medical malpractice lawsuits, have insurance coverage

Billions of dollars worth of medical claims are paid out every year. Mistakes happen, and courts judgement are often not too favorable of medical practitioners who are anyway looked upon as the big and rich guys. One lawsuit can wipe of your years worth of earnings and hard work. We have listed some common reasons of dental malpractice lawsuits.  A good malpractice insurance is an absolute necessity for any medical practice.

A few Collection Agencies do a litigious patient scrub before initiating collections. It means they recommend against collecting a few hundred worth of bills against those patients who have a history of suing doctors in the past.

Final thoughts

Running your own medical practice is no easy feat, especially in today’s highly competitive business environment. To stay on top of the competition and be profitable, it would behoove you to follow the above-mentioned tips.

Experiencing severe pain or being diagnosed with a serious medical ailment can make anyone emotional, agitated, irritated or even angry. Understandably, no one would enjoy being confined in a hospital far away from loved ones. Sometimes patients can get so emotional that they cross all boundaries and start to take their frustrations out on the entire healthcare team. In such instances, the best thing the healthcare team can do is to ease the situation.

Here are some ways healthcare providers can deal with angry patients:

1. Understand the reason for the patient’s anger or dissatisfaction

Patients can get angry for various reasons! However, sometimes these reasons may be personal and completely not medically related – even though they’ll disguise it as such. It is important that medical professionals providing care to the patient, recognize and address the origin of the patient’s anger. Often, the patient can identify the immediate frustration that sets them off but, not the root cause of the anger.

In such cases, healthcare professionals can attempt to calm angry patients or prevent further development of the patient’s anger by improving communication, bedside manner and minimizing significant delays while continuing to provide efficient care. Always watch your own language to prevent things from getting bad to worse. Remain calm, caring, empathetic, and tactful; and their tension will likely diffuse itself.

2. Dr. Google could be interfering:

The Internet is full of misinformation. These days half of the patients who walk into the doctor’s office believe that they have already diagnosed themselves by reading on the internet. Few of them don’t mind giving a short tutorial, even to the doctor.

When their internet-based self-diagnosis differs from the doctor’s opinion, some patients do not take it nicely. They hate being told they are wrong, even after the doctor has properly explained.

“But doctor what I read …”
“Do you think we should be doing this instead ….”

It is perfectly fine for patients to do some self-research, express their opinion and clear any doubts, but aggressively defending their hypothesis by trying to contradict or doubting doctor’s treatment can be incredibly frustrating. A patient who does not have adequate belief in his doctor should be advised to have a second opinion from another medical practitioner.

3. Getting too much treatment:

A doctor often prescribes several tests and medical procedures to diagnose the patient properly. Many patients think it to be unnecessary or a way for the hospital/doctor to make extra money.

In the United States, thousands of medical professionals are sued by patients every year for negligence. Doctors need to be extra careful, usually all those extra tests are recommended to eliminate less obvious medical conditions. Some tests are not fully covered by their medical insurance and the patient is on the hook to bear those expenses. Many patients get angry because they feel the whole healthcare industry is commercialized to extract money from them.

A patient who raises objection/declines the tests or procedures that you have recommended, and if your patient continues to remain unconvinced, then keep a proper written proof of his treatment preference, duly signed by the patient. Otherwise refer him to a different doctor.

4. Explanation of services

Patients who are in an emotional and agitated state are prone to act irrationally and display anger. Sometimes patients will burst out in anger simply because they believe that a medical professional is providing lackluster care. Patients might even compare the care provided by one medical professional to that of another to prove their point – even when the services rendered by the different medical professionals were completely unrelated.

To defuse this situation and calm the patient, it is best to explain the service being rendered step by step and in detail. It is recommended that the medical professionals explain the care they will provide upfront to prevent any miscommunications and aroused anger.

5. Cost and insurance breakup

“What do you mean my insurance does not cover it?” – these are words caregivers are all too familiar with when dealing with patients. At this point, you might almost see their anger boiling to the surface as they stare in disbelief while a caregiver is trying to explain the situation logically and efficiently.

Many patients do not fully comprehend the makeup of their insurance. It is therefore important that caregivers explain in full detail the cost of the services being rendered, the breakup of their individual insurance and respectfully direct them to their insurance company for clarification.

6. Medication side-effect

Patients can get angry for numerous reasons, but sometimes this anger is attributed to a medical reason. Sometimes patients are on medication for other conditions and thus are finding it challenging to manage their emotions. Unfortunately, these medications can also cause a patient to become fidgety, easily irritated or aggressive.

In this case, the medical professional rendering services can only be sympathetic, communicate with the patient regarding the service and continue providing care when the patient is calmer.

7. Fear and worry

Being medically ill can be an intensely destabilizing experience for a patient, especially if one is hospitalized. In some cases, unclear results of a diagnosis, the occurrence of complications during treatment and a demand to stay hospitalized for a longer period can cause a patient to worry and become fearful about their future.

This fear can trigger anger and patients may attempt to direct this anger to caregivers. It is common for patients who are constantly worried and afraid to become broody, moody and even aggressive. Caregivers can attempt to help the patient recognize their source of anger and encourage them to alleviate their worries and fears.

8. The patient feels un-involved

At times patients might believe that medical professionals are not involving them or keeping them up to date on important decisions regarding their health. This might cause anger and confusion. Some patients might even express anger to catch the attention of medical staff as they feel that they have not received sufficient information about their illness or that their concerns have not been addressed.

Ensuring that patients feel they are involved in their care all time can stop anger outbursts even before they happen. Medical staff should always strive to explain thoroughly to patients about their conditions and the care they will be receiving.

9. The patient is experiencing high levels of pain

Sometimes when a patient is in excruciating pain, they become more emotional and their ability to think logically decreases. This is completely natural, as anger is an emotion often raised by pain, especially chronic pain. Pain has caused many patients to lash out at caregivers for no apparent reason and sometimes even refuse to accept the care being provided.

Caregivers who are involved with these patients must first assess the pain and only prescribe analgesics if needed. However, caregivers must strive to alleviate the pain and offer comfort to the patient as soon as possible.

10. Stay calm

Anger should never be reciprocated with anger, even when patients appear to become upset for no reason. The truth is that there is always a reason that triggered their anger, whether it is immediately apparent or not. It might be that they are sad, worried or in distress.

Unfortunately, caregivers will be at the receiving end of the patient’s anger. As a caregiver, your role is to stay calm, show empathy and validate their feelings. You can do so by making the patient feel that you understand and care about them. Focus your attention on them, their feelings, expressions, and actions. Show them that you are interested and that they are important. This is powerful and can calm them down immediately.

Sometimes patients intentionally pretend to be angry just because if they show more tantrums, the hospital/medical practitioner will become extra careful and concerned about their treatment. The fact is that doctors have to master the skill on how to deal with different personalities in the best way possible,

Conclusion

It is common for medical professionals to get involved with angry patients daily. Patients who are experiencing excruciating pain are prone to become emotional and act irrationally, agitated or angry. How medical professionals handle these situations will cause a patient to calm down or become angrier. Your patient needs to be treated like a partner. It is, therefore, best to follow the above-mentioned methods when dealing with angry patients.