My last visit appointment at the dentist’s office was on May 23rd.
First the dentist’s office has to work with my insurance company so that I can use their services as in the “network”. I called the insurance company and I was told some dentist’s offices that are in the network. I went to the closest one. As all the businesses do, they had a systematic set of steps that employees perform to serve a customer. I went through the following steps:
I called to make an appointment, somebody answered the phone and looked through the schedules and told me when the doctor was available. I made an appointment.
The receptionist called a day before the appointment to confirm my presence.
I went at that dentist’s office for the first time so I had to write down all my information, which I suppose they introduced in the computer database.
The first thing they asked was the insurance card I had and they made a copy of it. They asked me to provide my credit card number and explained that it is just in case you do not pay. I argued with them because I did not want to give this information. They understood my reasons and did not insist on that.
I was told to wait until the doctor finishes with the other patient. In the meanwhile the receptionist prepared a file with my name on it.
A nurse called my name. She introduced me to the doctor and then showed me the room where I had to wait for the doctor.
The room had the special chair with different modern technologies and a set of materials on a separate table.
The doctor used a computer with a special program where he registered all my information and opened a file with a picture of the teeth and after a detailed look at my teeth he was writing the problems I had by each teeth in the picture and explained what he recommends to do.
I told him what I want to do for this appointment and he started working on that. He used different materials and the technologies to fix the problem.
When the doctor finished his work, I went to the receptionist again wondering if I had to pay the services, she told me that she already talked to the insurance company and they will pay the service provided 100%.
Dentist’s office processes:
The dentist’s service is part of the revenue processes. The doctor makes a list with all the services that you need and gives you an invoice which is part of the selling process and after providing any type of service you have to pay the amount listed in the invoice (which was already reduced according to the insurance contract) and this is the cash collection process.
In addition to revenue processes the dentist’s office must first engage in purchase process to buy the technology and the materials and other supplies. In addition it should have a payroll processes to pay employees and fixed asset processes to buy and maintain equipment and other fixed assets. The dentist’s office must have conversion processes to which include planning processes which is concerned with determining what resources should be available in order to provide the service, such as materials used for fillings etc. , Resource management processes which is responsible for hiring qualified personnel (qualified doctors, nurses), managing and recording the movement of the inventory (the materials the doctors use).
Administrative and accounting processes:
The dentist’s office must have capital processes that raise funds to buy assets such as the office where they will provide the services and the equipment which doctors will use to provide services. The capital usually comes from long term debt or equity.
Also it should have investment processes to manage and invest any extra cash flow. In order to attract more clients, a dentist’s office usually invests in new modern technology, in upgraded programs that make the processes easier for employees, in hiring the best doctors, in training the employees, in buying upgraded materials, in making contracts with different dental insurance companies etc.
Finally the dentist’s office needs general ledger processes to ensure that all transactions are recorder into the appropriate general ledger accounts and that financial information is reported to external and internal users. For example each service provided should be registered as a sale and the results of the sale must be posted to the general ledger accounts of cash and sales. The company should have prescribed work steps in every area. Employees, work steps, and transaction recording system must be established in any organization to ensure that business processes occur and that any accounting effects of those processes are captures and recorded.