Ionia Family Dentistry Saves 15+ Hours a Week with Dentrix Ascend's Eligibility and Claims Tools
98%
Collection rate
10+
hrs/week saved with Eligibility Pro
80↑
Increase in monthly production numbers
Challenge
As Ionia Family Dentistry transitioned away from their practice consultant, brought on a new office manager, and passed ownership from the founding clinician to his two daughters, they decided they needed a new practice management solution (PMS).
Solution
The team looked at several options and found that only Dentrix Ascend filled all of their needs.
“It gave us the analytics we were looking for, plus the ability to text and bill our patients, and manage all of our claims. Everything we needed to run a practice was right there in Ascend.”
-- Kim Ockert, Office Manager, Ionia Family Dental
Results
Claims sent out before the morning huddle
Each morning, Ockert has to batch and send the practice's claims. Thanks to Ascend, the only thing she needs to do is quickly review them, and click a box to make sure they send correctly. In fact, Ockert is able to arrive at the office at 7:35, send out all of their claims, and make it to the morning huddle at 7:45.
“When I started at this practice, that process took us an hour and a half every night. Now it takes less than five minutes.”
-- Kim Ockert, Office Manager, Ionia Family Dental
Hours saved each week with Eligibility Pro
Eligibility Pro is a team favorite, saving them upwards of 10 hours a week that used to be spent calling insurance companies and visiting payor portals. That time is now well spent cultivating better patient relationships and spending more time discussing treatment.
“Eligibility Pro gives my staff the time to really focus on treatment and on getting to know the patients so they feel comfortable, and trust us.”
-- Kim Ockert, Office Manager, Ionia Family Dental
Because they're able to spend more time chairside with patients and provide more accurate treatment estimates, they're now seeing a collection rate around 98%, and monthly production numbers have increased from around 100 to the 180 range.
Patient payments made sooner
Online payments have been a game-changer for both the practice and their patients. Patients love how easy it is to pay, and the team is getting paid much quicker, often seeing 20+ payments within an hour or two after texting statements, with some patients even receiving the link and paying while they're still in the chair.
An all-encompassing cloud-based system
One of the biggest benefits of Ascend has been how it helps support every workflow throughout the practice, from eligibility to patient communication and billing.
“If you want an all-encompassing system, one that will provide you the flexibility to either work strictly by taskbar or give you the flexibility to create a system that'll work specifically for your practice and workflow, there's no better option than Ascend.”
-- Kim Ockert, Office Manager, Ionia Family Dental
The flexibility of moving to a cloud-based platform has also been huge for the practice. The doctors can answer messages, talk to patients, and work on notes outside of the office. If one of the team members has a sick child or something comes up, they can securely access Ascend from home and put in a few hours of work. For an all-female practice with several new mothers, cloud access has helped support better work-life balance and a more satisfied team.