Dental Insurance Processing
Revenue cycle management (RCM) reports control practice income. Many teams lack financial visibility, leading to late payments, lost production, and stalled growth. Cash flow gaps force tough decisions about staffing and investments, while consistent tracking connects clinical work directly to dollars earned. The solution is simple: track seven focused reports. Each catches issues early (duplicate postings, aged claims, rising write-offs) so problems get fixed before revenue disappears. Clear financial data creates steady cash flow that funds better decisions: new technology, expanded hours, or flexible hygienist coverage through Teero.
Nov 22, 2025
1. Gross Production Report
This report serves as the practice scorecard, adding up every procedure completed before any discounts or insurance adjustments. It reveals whether patient flow and chair time translate into real growth by showing the raw dollar value of clinical work.
Pull a daily snapshot, then review a month-to-date summary. Daily numbers flag sudden swings like last-minute cancellations that leave chairs empty, while monthly views reveal actionable patterns. Most practice-management systems allow sorting by provider, procedure code, or operatory. When broken down this way, top performers and under-used chairs become obvious.
High-value codes deserve close attention: crowns, implants, clear aligners. A single uptick in these procedures lifts monthly output faster than a packed schedule of low-fee fillings. Many consultants recommend targeting $300 to $350 in revenue per chair hour for general practices.
Connect production data to staffing plans. If hygiene productivity spikes on Wednesdays, add a part-time hygienist that day rather than stretching full-time staff thin.
2. Net Production / Write-off Report
Building a realistic budget requires knowing the dollars that will actually hit the bank account. This report delivers that truth by subtracting every adjustment and write-off from gross totals:
Net Production = Gross Production minus contractual adjustments, insurance write-offs, and professional courtesy discounts.
Practice management software tags each adjustment with a reason code (insurance disallowance, promotional discount, bad debt), making patterns visible. A swelling bucket of insurance write-offs often points to systemic issues and profit drains.
Compare the percentage of write-offs to total production each month. If that share keeps climbing, dig deeper. Renegotiate payer contracts when reimbursement falls far below the fee schedule. Coach clinical teams on documentation so claims pass insurer edits the first time. Audit courtesy discounts to confirm they match written policy.
Tracking trends over several months turns this report into an early-warning system. A steady rise in bad-debt adjustments signals that patient payment plans need tightening; a jump in promotional discounts might mean front-desk staff feel pressured to close unscheduled treatment.
3. Collections and Collection-Percentage Report
This report shows exactly how much money reached the bank. Pair that total with net output and the collection percentage emerges: Collections divided by Net Production, times 100. This single ratio reveals how efficiently the practice turns completed dentistry into real dollars.
Healthy practices routinely post 98 percent or higher for fee-for-service care and 95 percent or higher in PPO-heavy offices. If the percentage dips, investigate immediately by checking billing errors against explanation of benefits, examining insurance delays, and addressing patient balances with automated reminders or same-day payment links.
Every missed dollar reduces liquidity. Predictable cash flow enables investment in new operatories, upgraded technology, or on-demand hygienists through flexible staffing models without worrying about payroll gaps.
4. Daily Deposit (Reconciliation) Report
Each workday ends with cash, checks, and card payments in hand. This report confirms those dollars reached the bank (nothing missing, nothing misstated). By matching each payment posted in practice management systems to the dollars that actually landed in accounts, the report protects revenue and guards against fraud.
At its core, one question gets asked: did today's collections equal today's deposit?
Review each night:
Side-by-side tally of payments recorded versus bank deposit totals
Breakout by payment type (cash, credit, ACH, insurance check)
Time-stamped verification of who posted the payment and who prepared the deposit
Assign one team member to generate the report, another to review and sign off. Aim for 100 percent deposit accuracy. The moment a discrepancy appears (even five dollars), pause and investigate.
Solid reconciliation sets the stage for every other revenue metric.
5. Patient Accounts-Receivable Aging Report
This report breaks down every patient balance into time buckets (0 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and 90-plus days), showing exactly where cash sits and how long it's been waiting. Filter by provider or procedure to spot patterns that would stay invisible in a single receivable total.
Keep balances older than 90 days below 15 percent of total patient receivables. Once that slice grows, collection probability drops sharply.
For balances that linger:
Call patients once the account hits 30 days
Offer short-term payment plans on larger cases
Turn 90-day accounts over to a third-party collector or write them off in a single adjustment batch
Pair weekly review with automated text or email reminders so most patients pay before anyone picks up the phone.
6. Insurance Aging Report
This report provides a snapshot of every claim still waiting to be paid, grouped into 0 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, and 90-plus-day buckets. When unpaid claims line up against their age, exactly where follow-up is needed and which payers are slowing things down becomes clear.
Keep claims older than 30 days below 10 percent of total insurance accounts receivable. Focus first on claims in the 31-to-60-day column because these are still fresh enough to fix quickly.
During weekly review:
Rebill or correct rejected claims the same day they're spotted
Call the carrier on any claim that hits 45 days without movement
Batch secondary claims so they don't linger
If one insurer consistently fills the 60-day column, consider capping chair time for that plan or renegotiating the fee schedule.
7. Adjustments Report
This report records every time money moves off an account (refunds, charge corrections, small-balance write-offs) and spells out why each change happened.
The report groups changes by category: contractual insurance write-offs, courtesy discounts, bad debt, and overpayments. With clear labeling, most reductions can be traced immediately to either PPO agreements or preventable coding mistakes.
Run a quick scan every week so the billing team can catch errors while memories are fresh. Once a month, sit with the office manager to sign off on totals. Comparing months side-by-side helps spot unusual spikes. A sudden jump in "miscellaneous write-offs" could point to a training gap or even fraud.
Accuracy starts with the right codes. Most practice-management systems allow creation of detailed adjustment reasons. A "write-off-PPO contract" tells a very different story from a "write-off-data entry error."
Building a Sustainable Reporting Rhythm
Turning these seven reports into reliable financial intelligence requires consistency. The following framework shows when to run each report, what benchmarks to watch, and which corrective actions to take when numbers drift off course. This structure transforms raw data into a weekly routine that protects revenue and flags problems before they compound.
Most practices benefit from assigning ownership of each report to specific team members. Front-desk staff typically handle daily deposit reconciliation, while office managers or billing coordinators monitor aging reports and adjustments. Clear ownership prevents gaps and builds accountability across the revenue cycle.
Report | Frequency | Key Benchmark | Primary Action |
Gross Production | Daily + Monthly | $300 to $350/chair hour | Align staffing to productivity patterns |
Net Production / Write-offs | Monthly | Monitor percent of gross production | Renegotiate contracts, audit discounts |
Collections | Weekly + Monthly | 98% (FFS), 95% (PPO) or higher | Fix billing errors, speed patient payments |
Daily Deposit | Daily | 100% accuracy | Investigate discrepancies immediately |
Patient A/R Aging | Weekly | Below 15% over 90 days | Call at 30 days, payment plans, collections |
Insurance Aging | Weekly | Below 10% over 30 days | Rebill rejections, call at 45 days |
Adjustments | Weekly + Monthly | Track trends month-over-month | Audit spikes, refine adjustment codes |
The cadence outlined above balances vigilance with efficiency. Daily reconciliation catches fraud and posting errors before they multiply, while weekly reviews of aging reports and collections keep cash flowing steadily. Monthly deep dives into production and write-offs reveal strategic opportunities such as contract renegotiations or staff training needs. Practices that follow this rhythm consistently report fewer write-offs, faster collections, and greater confidence in financial projections.
Turn Financial Clarity Into Practice Growth
Consistently running these seven core RCM reports gives a clear line of sight on every dollar that enters or leaves the practice. Practices that watch these numbers closely hit higher collection percentages and keep aged accounts receivable low.
Transform insight into habit by assigning each report to a specific team member and tracking every KPI in a shared dashboard. Most practice-management systems house all these reports, and integrating them into one dashboard reduces clicks and cuts manual work.
With steady cash flow confirmed, investment becomes confident whether that's upgrading technology, expanding hours, or adding flexible staffing. Ready to translate healthy revenue into reliable chairside help? Sign up for Teero and book on-demand, qualified hygienists whenever needed.