How To Deal With Patients Who Refuse To Pay?

 

How To Deal With Patients Who Refuse To Pay?

It’s not new in India that some patients get their complete treatment done and then refuse to pay the treatment charges or the pending treatment charges remaining at the end. I feel sorry for such patients and their thought process who consider that all doctors are always behind money. These patients account for around 1-5% of the total footfalls in your clinic but leave a very negative and a discouraging impact on you as you could do nothing but let that patient walk away freely and subsequently you start losing trust and suspecting your loyal and genuine patients too and become overcautious and strict regarding the payment protocol which can make some of your patients believe that you are a complete money minded person worsening the already deteriorating doctor patient relationship..

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Why should I feel embarrassed about making money, as it’s an important factor for enhancing self worth and only when I’m secure, I can give back my 100% to my profession. No, I have not forgotten that I am in one of the Nobel professions but does that mean that I should mix Nobility with Financial Returns.? Something to ponder upon...

 

Now How To Deal With Such Patients Legally?

We can definitely take legal action against a patient who refuses to pay the due amount after the completion of treatment. To start with the proceedings...we all know that our judiciary relies only and only on evidences.

 

So Before You Proceed; Make Sure You Have Enough Evidence To Prove That...

1. PATIENT HAD AGREED TO TREATMENT PLAN AND TREATMENT CHARGES

You must have evidence like records and documents of the patients work done as per the scheduled appointments..Valid consent form, fitness certificate in case of medically compromised patients..pictures taken during the course of treatment..CCTV record or an audio record of the time when/where patient agreed to payment plan along with his sign on the proposed payment plan....

The more you have the listed above evidences with you..the more stronger your case becomes and lesser will be the loopholes that the patient can find to contradict you..

 

2. YOU HAD REMINDED THE PATIENT MULTIPLE TIMES ABOUT PENDING DUES

Always before filing a legal suit you should have evidences to prove that you had reminded the patient multiple times which should not be by verbal warnings which can't be produced in court of law but by calls (better if they are recorded) messages & mails or post sent through your mobile or the clinic system.

 

3. YOU HAD ATTEMPTED TO CONSIDER PART PAYMENTS:

You should have evidences to prove that attempts have been made by you to consider part payments if patient have any genuine financial problems.

 

4. YOU HAD GIVEN A TIMEFRAME TO MAKE DUE PAYMENTS:

You should have evidences in the form of mail or message or document that can be reproduced in court to prove that you had given deadline to patient to pay the amount and have even informed the patient that failing to which you will file a law suit against him.

This evidence holds a greater importance and makes your stand stronger.

 

What If Patient Does Not Pay Even After Above Exercise? 

Then Here’s The Legal Treatment Plan:

The first and foremost thing is to present all the documents and records regarding his treatment procedure to the nearest police station with a sincere request to file an FIR. The police officials will take down your complain and will first try to help us out and solve our problem. They might send their junior staff or the beat Marshall who patrols that particular area to the patient and would bring him in front of you.

Most of the times patient falls to this and will pay remaining treatment charges as sight of a police man coming to his home and taking him to police station with neighbors looking upon is not a good sight for any person. So your matter is sorted out without filing a lawsuit against him...

 

Now What If The Patient Doesn’t Pay Even After Police Interference...

Police however has no right to extort money from the patient. Then they will file an FIR and will tell u to draft a complaint with the Small Claims Court in your area or Civil Trial Court based on the money to be recovered.

In Small Claims Courts quick decisions are taken at nominal charges whereas Civil Trial Courts are time consuming and relatively expensive as you will require a lawyer to handle your case and multiple trails to follow...

Remember in any of the scenes you must have valid evidences that I have mentioned earlier.

 

At last, I Would Say Prevention Is Better Than Cure. Better Not To Place Yourself In Such Situation…

Asking complete advance payment is legally right but not completing the treatment due to nonpayment is legally wrong on your part...

Also the amount of money in question matters...whether it’s worth enough to go ahead and file a suit or learn from your mistakes and move on...

Source : DentistFriend

Financial Management: "Professional Tax" For Dentists

 

Financial Management: "Professional Tax" For Dentists

I have come across many incidences where professionals had to pay additional interest to the government as they failed to pay their professional tax and this happens because most of them were unaware of Professional Tax. Some also have misconception that taxes are to be paid only when their income comes in the tax bracket & they approach CA only when their income becomes taxable under Income tax. This blog is an attempt to expound the concept of professional tax and help you save on penalties.  

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What is Professional Tax Or PT?

PT is a tax charged on the income earned by way of profession or employment. This is additional to income tax and has to be paid to State Government. Professionals like doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants, artists etc comes under the purview of this tax. This is a slab-based tax and the rates vary state to state however the maximum amount that can be charged as PT by any state is Rs. 2500 annually. 

 

Registration for Professional Tax 

It is advisable to register your practice for PT immediately after commencement of dental practice. Before registering yourself for PT, you need to understand two main things one is PTRC and the other is PTEC. 

Professional Tax Registration Certificate (PTRC) is to be obtained by the professional in the capacity of employer. For instance, if you have 10 employees working with you in your business having monthly salary more than 7500, then you need to deduct PT on their salaries every month as per the rate given (Rs.200 per month & Rs.300 for February month).

Professional Tax Enrollment Certificate (PTEC) is to be obtained by the professional for its own existence and engaging in profession (business) within the state of Maharashtra.

PTR will have to be paid according to the salary paid to employees whereas PTE is fixed at Rs.2500 annually.

 

How to register? 

Step 1: Log on to www.mahavat.gov.in and open ‘e-PT Registration’ in e-services and fill in details like Name of the applicant, PAN, TAN, Status of Applicant and Location. Select Act as ‘PTRC/PTEC Registration’ (any one which you have to register for), the e-application for registration in ‘Form I’ will open for PTRC and ‘Form II’ for PTEC. Fill in the complete details and ‘Submit’.

 

Step 2: Once the application is submitted; an acknowledgement is generated containing date and time for attending before registration authority along with designation and address of registration authority. This acknowledgement has to be printed and signed by the applicant and produced before the PT registration authority at the time of verification on given date and time along with relevant documents. Once it is approved by the authority, TIN (Registration Certificate Number under the profession Tax Act) is generated. 

 

Step 3: After obtaining Registration Certificate the certificate holders are now needed to enroll themselves for the e-services on the same website, this will enable them to file e-return and e-payment of professional tax. 

 

The due date for paying PT is before 30th June of every financial year.

 

Consequences of late payment or non-payment of PT:

For late payment of PT, interest @1.25%-2% pm is levied and the state may also impose a penalty of 10% of the total amount due.  

Please Click Here for the due Dates for profession tax payment

Source : DentistFriend

How To Make Your Clinic A Patient Magnet?

 

How To Make Your Clinic A Patient Magnet?

Our clinics are supposed to be healing spaces rather than fear creating spaces. Patients are more scared to walk in a dental clinic than walk in a general hospital. Are we not ready yet to break that stereotype of being painful clinics??

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What’s in name??

 

Who does not like luxury? Add that extra x factor to your clinic. Have a nice innovative name. Now a days “spa” and “boutiques” are trending. Small addition may add that “chic” factor to your practice. Of course when you write spa…you need to do justice to the name. Have that kind of ambience that will confuse the patient if he in for a real spa!!

 

So what things incite fear in a patient and make our dental clinics an unpopular place to visit?

1. 1. Pain, of course.

2. 2. Hearing somebody cry or yell due to pain.

3. 3. The typical hospital smell.

 

Painless dentistry- is not difficult to practice. Conscious sedation, oral sedation, magic wands for local anaesthesia….there are countless ways to do it!

 

 

Sound proofing??

 

Your dentistry may be painless for the mouth but you have to make it painless for the ear too! Some patients do complain of the hand piece noise that makes them irritable than any dental procedure. I have had to put on some earphones for few patients to calm them down and prevent them from hearing the hand piece noise. So what can we do??

 

1. 1. Sound reduction hand pieces are available. They may be expensive but if you have clientele that demands such kind...why not??

2. 2. Sound reduction headphones...they absolutely cut off any outside noise.

3. 3. Scaring other patients?- You may use sound proof door and windows to prevent any chair side noise that may scare the patients in the waiting room

4. 4. Increased insulation of walls and doors to absorb sound.

5. 5. Planning a waiting area away from treatment room.

 

 

I smell fear!!!!!!

 

Leave alone patients, until I became a dentist, I would also relate going to a hospital with smell of spirit and I would feel nauseated. Most patients relate lot of situations with the smell. Many "people have a fight-or-flight reaction" to the sights, sounds, and smells of a dental office. This is the beginning of the fear development. To break that negative thought, air fresheners can be used. They not only create a pleasant environment but also reduce patient’s anxiety by calming the nerves. You can have orange, rose and lavender flavours which have shown to improve the patients mood and reduce anxiety levels (Trying to create a spa! Remember!)

 

 

What more??

 

Show an Waiting area-you can have some soothing photographs and music to relax the atmosphere rather than patient and procedure photographs.intra oral view of teeth to a normal regular non dental person. Most feel disgusted. I was once removed from my own family group for posting an intra oral picture of great work I did. But your patients don’t care about your good work in bold fully blown up pictures. So save them for consultation.

You can add in trendy magazines and board games for fun and this will be a distraction and help them pass time in the waiting. Fresh flowers or plants also help relax patients. Having plants or greenery around reduces pain perception. If you are an aquarium person, make sure your aquarium has clean water and no dead fish!

 

 

Temperature of the clinics- the patient should neither feel too cold nor too hot. The temperature should be well adjusted for them to feel at “home feeling”

Declutter your reception of unwanted stuff. There are so many things like pamphlets . These will help your area look neat and clean giving an impression of a well maintained hospital. There are many more simple ideas that can help you to make your clinic a patient magnet, for more of such innovative yet simple ideas stay tuned for part 2…………….Coming soon

 

 

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Source : DentistFriend

How To Decide Which Practice Management Software To Buy

 

How To Decide Which Practice Management Software To Buy

In this blog let’s see what to look in good Dental Practice Management Software?

 

Friend’s, the purpose of practice management software is that it should help you to manage your whole practice easily. If you are based in tier I or tier 2 cities and still not using practice management software then probably you are lagging behind.

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There are hundreds of practice management software available in the market and many are free of cost but when I say good software then the number shrinks to 3-4. Even out of this 3-4 software, every software has some or other drawback.

 

For example: If one software helps in branding it doesn’t help in marketing or vice versa. One will have a multi-practice option but will miss on some other feature.

 

Now, as a consumer you have to decide what you want and which software fits in with your requirements.

 

 

Here are some insights on how to decide which software to buy?

Before you go ahead reading this blog make sure you have read,  “Life-cycle of your Dental Practice” otherwise you won’t understand what I am going to tell you.

 

1. If you are in your introduction stage of your practice then probably you need to take support of other big brands to become a brand but if your practice is already into a maturity stage then instead of relying on third-party marketing, you can have your own marketing budget and use the software that helps in branding your clinic.

 

2. Here is something I want you to think about, let me put this in simple words, suppose you have subscribed a paid version of the software and using it to send messages to your patients then ideally all the messages should go by your clinic’s name and not by the software’s name. If messages are being sent by the software name then it means that the company is branding themselves & charging you for it.

 

3. Second important aspect is that, some companies promise to list you on their portal but what’s the sense if there are already 10 dentists listed on the same page no matter above or below me coz at the end of the day it’s not killing the competition but creating a competition further.

 

So be careful before you get trapped in to this marketing jargon.

Source : DentistFriend