Invoicing Software for Dental Practices

This page is about invoicing patients directly: for treatment a patient pays for in full, or for the share of a fee a patient owes after their dental plan pays. It doesn't cover filing claims with insurance carriers.

If your practice documents treatment with CDT codes, the American Dental Association (US) says: "The Code on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature (the CDT Code) assures consistency in documenting dental treatment." Billed's help article on items and services says: "You can use these items and services to bill your clients." Save each procedure you bill as an item or service with the code in its name, for example the code followed by the procedure name. Billed's help article on creating an invoice says you add a saved item to an invoice this way: "Add them to invoices by writing the item's name and selecting it to autofill the entire section."

Send the treatment plan to the patient as an estimate before treatment starts. Billed's help article on estimates says: "You can make an estimate and then send it to your client. Your client can approve it to proceed further."

When the treatment is ready to bill, Billed's invoice software page describes how you "convert an approved estimate into an invoice". Billed's help article on converting estimates says: "You can add and edit any information here." If the plan changed between the estimate and the visit, make the change on the invoice before you save it.

Billed's help article on payment schedules says: "A payment schedule lets you add a payment plan to the invoices." The help article on scheduled payments says: "You can let your clients pay the amount in installments through this option." The payment schedules article lists the steps, among them: "Choose a suitable option among percentage or flat amount." and "Fill out the payment amount and due date of each payment." The installments have to add up to the invoice. The scheduled payments article says: "the sum of all installments should be equal to the total balance of the invoice."

A patient who wants to pay ahead can do so. The payment schedules article says: "The clients can also select several payments at once to pay multiple scheduled payments in advance."

These are sample figures. A patient's treatment plan has two procedures: a core buildup at 250.00 and a crown at 1,250.00, so the estimate totals 1,500.00. The practice expects the patient's dental plan to pay 700.00 (120.00 toward the buildup and 580.00 toward the crown), which leaves 800.00 for the patient. The patient approves the estimate.

At the preparation visit, the practice converts the estimate into an invoice and edits the two lines to the patient's share: 130.00 for the buildup and 670.00 for the crown, 800.00 in all. It adds a payment schedule with two payments: 40% due at the preparation visit, 320.00, and 60% due when the crown is seated, 480.00. The two payments add up to the 800.00 invoice total.

The patient pays the first 320.00 in cash at the front desk. The practice records it as an offline payment and sends a payment receipt. Billed's invoice reports then show the invoice as partially paid, with 480.00 left. If the dental plan pays a different amount from the one expected, ask your dental billing advisor how to settle the difference with the patient.

Billed's invoice software page says: "Connect your Stripe account and every invoice you send gets a pay button, so clients can pay by card." It also says: "Connect PayPal to add a PayPal option as well." For payments at the front desk: "When a client pays by check or cash, record it as an offline payment so all your income is in one place." And after the payment: "After a client pays, you can send them a payment receipt."

For balances that aren't paid yet, the same page says: "Set a due date on each invoice so your client knows when to pay." It also says: "Invoice reports show which invoices are paid, partially paid or past due, and you can see who owes you money and send them a payment reminder." and "Payment reminders can be customized."

This page doesn't cover insurance claims, what a dental plan pays, the patient-privacy rules for which treatment details can appear on an invoice or in an email, or how your practice reports its income. Ask your dental billing advisor, lawyer or accountant about those.