In this eye-opening episode, Sandy digs into one of the most overlooked contributors to rising accounts receivable (AR) in dental practices—abandoning mailed statements too soon.

You may be emailing and texting patients about balances, but do you actually know how many patients you're reaching? Sandy breaks down the data and shares real stats from dental dashboards, showing that many practices have incomplete contact info for 20–40% of their patients—and it’s costing them tens of thousands.

Whether your AR is creeping past $100,000 or you’re trying to build a smarter collection system, this episode will help you understand the risks of relying too heavily on tech—and how to create a system that actually works.

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Evaluate how many patient emails and cell numbers are actually in your system ✅ Set up a multi-step system for statements that includes email, text, and physical mail ✅ Use dashboards like Practice by Numbers to track and improve your data ✅ Minimize collection delays by acting faster and smarter—not cheaper ✅ Understand the real cost of “saving 60 cents” on postage

📓 Listener Challenge: Pull your AR report. Look at your 30-, 60-, and 90-day buckets. Then audit your system—do you know how many patients are unreachable by email or text?

Key takeaways:

👉 Most practices don’t have complete contact data—and don’t realize it 👉 Text-to-pay consistently performs better than email-based statements 👉 Mailing a statement isn’t outdated—it's often necessary to get paid 👉 AR doesn’t shrink itself; assign ownership and follow a consistent process 👉 The longer you wait, the harder it is to collect—act at 30 days, not 90

🔊 Special thanks to our sponsors:

📞 Mango Voice – Smart, reliable phone systems designed for dental practices. Learn more at mangovoice.com

📣 Identity Dental Marketing – Get strategic, ethical, and conversion-driven marketing from the pros who care. Visit identitydental.com

🦷 Plan Forward – Membership plans made simple for dental teams. Learn more at planforward.io

📲 Join the conversation! What’s working (or failing) in your AR process? Share your experiences inside our Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group—we’d love to hear from you, and you might be featured in a future episode!