How to Collect Unpaid Balances at a Dental Clinic (Philippines)

It's Saturday evening, the last patient just left, and you open the notebook where your clinic keeps the hulugan list. Two braces patients are a couple of gives behind. A denture patient paid half in June and hasn't been back. Nobody refused to pay. Nobody asked them to, either.

Why unpaid balances pile up

Look at who's in that notebook. Braces, dentures and crowns are the big-ticket work patients pay in gives, so that's where balances pile up. Then there's the patient whose HMO covered less than they expected, and the one who paid half, meant to settle on payday, and lost the week to everything else.

Hiya works on both sides of the counter. The patient is embarrassed to bring up money they owe. Your assistant is embarrassed to ask, especially with other patients in the waiting area. You'd rather be doing dentistry. So the topic waits for a better moment, and the better moment never comes.

Meanwhile the balance ages. A balance from last month needs a quick text. A balance from last year needs an awkward phone call, and some of those you never collect at all.

Set the terms before the patient leaves the chair

Collection trouble often starts at the counter, when the patient hears the full amount for the first time and nobody writes down what happens next. Fix that moment and there's far less to chase later.

• Say the total before the work starts. The dentist sets the fee. The front desk repeats it, along with what the patient pays today and what's left after.
• Write down the gives. For braces or dentures, agree on the down payment, how many gives, monthly or every two weeks, and the date of the first one.
• Give them the schedule in writing. A due date they can see beats a due date they have to remember.
• Settle the HMO part up front. If some of the work falls outside the patient's coverage, say so before you start. "Akala ko covered" is a hard conversation after the procedure and an easy one before it.

HeyDenta's payment plans hold that whole schedule in one place: the total, an optional down payment, the number of gives, monthly or every two weeks, and the first due date. The plans screen shows which gives are overdue and which fall due in the coming week, so nobody pages through a notebook to find out.

What a good balance reminder says

Short, private and specific. A reminder that works reads like a note from the clinic, and it covers four things:

• Who it's for and who it's from. The patient's name and your clinic's name, so it doesn't look like one of the scam texts going around.
• The exact amount. A number they can pay beats "your remaining balance."
• How to pay. Your GCash number, or a note that they can pay at the clinic.
• Their next visit, if they have one. Mention it in the same text, so the patient gets one message instead of two.

Leave out guilt and threats, and keep it between you and the patient. Nobody else should hear about a balance, at the counter or on Facebook.

Timing matters as much as wording. Plenty of patients get paid on the kinsenas and the katapusan, so a reminder sent a day or two after payday lands when the money is there. The same text a week before payday lands when it isn't.

HeyDenta writes that message for you. Tap Remind next to a patient and they get a text with their name, your clinic's name, the balance due, your GCash number if you've added it to your clinic profile, and a line about their next visit if they have one. Select several patients at once and HeyDenta shows you the exact list before anything sends.

The notebook versus a collections list

Put the two side by side and the gaps show up fast.

Nothing in the left column is anyone's fault. A notebook can't add itself up, and it can't show you which give went overdue yesterday.

Won't a reminder offend the patient?

This is the worry that keeps the notebook closed, so take it seriously.

A short, private text is about the gentlest way to bring up money. The patient reads it alone, on their own time, and pays without explaining anything to anyone. Compare that with your assistant raising it at the counter while the next patient listens.

Tone does the rest. HeyDenta's reminder reads like a note from the clinic and thanks the patient with a "Salamat." There's no collection-agency language anywhere in it.

It won't pester, either. HeyDenta skips anyone who got a reminder recently, so nobody hears from you day after day, and patients who opted out of texts don't get one at all.

And some balances you shouldn't chase at all: a patient going through a hard month, a case you'd rather forgive. That's the dentist's call, and it stays yours.

What it costs

Collections and payment plans come with the Solo plan at ₱1,990/month and every plan above it, with a 14-day free trial and no card to start. Pay yearly and get two months free. It's month to month, and you can cancel anytime.

Solo also covers the work that brought the patient in: Aria answering patients 24/7, booking them into your schedule, and sending appointment reminders. When a patient pays, your team logs it once and the balance updates right away. At zero, the patient drops off the list.

Before you decide, add up everything in your notebook that's older than a month. If collecting even part of it covers a few months of Solo, the math decides for you. Built in the Philippines, for clinics where GCash and hulugan are part of every week.

Common questions