Your essential guide to your practice finances

At Dentally, we don’t only understand the clinical elements of your dental practice and support you in delivering patient care, but we appreciate that it is also a business that has to be profitable.

In last week’s blog, we looked at how you can manage your staff and fill your appointment book through a number of different tools and processes, and how to get the data to do this from your Dentally reports.

Today, we look at the measuring, monitoring and tracking of financial elements of your practice from credit control, to daily takings, invoicing and forecasting, with a Q and A session with our Head of Customer Success, Kevin Bell.

Measuring your income

On a daily basis how can I see what my total income is for that day?

You can use the Takings report in Dentally, which will give you a summary of the money taken through your till.   This will include any payments taken online and will allow you to reconcile your books.

What is the difference between the Takings report and the Income report?

The Takings report provides a summary of all payments taken within a date range.  The Income report provides a breakdown of where the income has been used, by treatment item including the value of your NHS UDAs.  It will tell you if you have any unexplained monies that should have been allocated. 

How do I undertake stock control of my sundries?

Use the Sundries report to measure your stock control of your sundry items by detailing the quantity and value sold within a time frame.

Is there an overview of my current financial position?

The Patients Accounts report provides an overview of money owed, planned work and the value of those planned treatments.

Monitoring my income

How can I see a breakdown of my income?

The income report enables you to see a breakdown of all your revenue streams that are coming into your dental practice on a daily basis.  This will include your private and NHS work.

What can I use the Practitioner Activity report for?

The Practitioner Activity report provides all the information you need to see how efficient each individual is by monitoring a number of variants including; treatment type, duration, pricing, invoice date and payment date.  For example; if Practitioner A had undertaken 10 hours of work in two days and earned £596.78 why had Practitioner B only invoiced for 5 hours of work in two days and earned £228.55.   It means you can closely monitor all your practitioners and ensure they are generating the income you expect for the practice, or simply report on the amount of work being completed by category or numbers of individual treatments.

How can I quickly see my unpaid invoices?

Use the Invoice timeline report for an at a glance snapshot of all your unpaid invoices.   For a more indepth view use the Invoice report, which will highlight unpaid and in-debt patients, so you can task your team to follow up outstanding accounts.

Tracking my finances

Is each surgery at my practice efficient?

On a week by week basis, the Chair Utilisation report shows the efficiency of each surgery and the number of hours each chair has been used.   This gives you a good indication of how well you are optimising your surgeries.  If you are running a specific marketing campaign  for particular treatment or have been running recalls , it will also help you track their success. 

How do I check if I will be paid for my NHS work?

Use the NHS Claims report to track your progress, resolve any invalid or errors quickly, see the status at each stage and ensure you get paid in a timely manner.

Planning and forecasting

What do I use the UDA Forecast report for?

To make sure you submit all of your claims in a timely manner and fulfil your NHS contract, use the UDA Forecast report.  It will show you any claims that you are in danger of not being paid for, so that you can take any necessary action.

How can I forecast my private work?

The Private Forecast report gives you a view of all treatments that are planned for private patients over the next six weeks.

How do I identify unfinished treatment plans?

Use the Unfinished Treatments report to generate a list of all patients with unfinished or incomplete treatment plans, so that you can follow them up and make appointments.

Ask us a question

If you have a question that we haven’t answered then please do send us an email help@dentally.co, and remember to take a look at our online support guide for your practice accounts here.