🚨 Please note - This update is currently in Beta and is due to roll out from week commencing 13th July, we recommend familiarising yourself with the changes below.
What's changing with fees associated to plan templates?
Previously, personal treatment plan templates saved the custom prices set against treatment items saved on said template.
Each time the template was applied, those frozen prices were carried over regardless of the patient's actual payment plan or any fee schedule updates made across the practice as a whole since.
This caused two problems.
First, templates saved on one payment plan would apply incorrect fees when used on a patient with a different plan.
Second, practices that update their fee schedules annually found that templates continued to use old prices, which meant revenue was being missed.
Personal templates now behave the same way as shared templates: when a template is applied, Dentally uses the patient's current payment plan fees to price the treatment items. This ensures fees are always up to date and the correct plan is used for every patient.
What if I have custom fees set for specific treatment items?
If a treatment item needs to be charged at a different rate to the standard payment plan fee; for example, because a specialist procedure involves a specific material.The recommended approach is to create a dedicated treatment code with the correct fee set against it.
📝 Please note: This approach works best for items with a consistent fixed price. If the price varies per patient or clinician, using a separate payment plan (see below) will give you more flexibility.
What if I use my own fees as a clinician?
If a practitioner charges different rates to the rest of the practice, for example, a specialist dentist with higher fees for certain procedures. The recommended approach is to create a dedicated payment plan or fee schedule for that clinician and apply it to the patient's course of treatment.
When the template or treatment plan is applied, Dentally will price the items using the fees in the patient's default payment plan. However, the payment plan or fee schedule can then be set to your custom fees at the course of treatment level.
This means you can use the specialist plan for a single course of treatment without affecting how other treatments for the same patient are priced on their own plan.
How does this affect me as part of a larger group of practices?
For large corporate groups with centralised pricing - such as BUPA or Rodericks practices - fee schedule changes are often made at head office level. Contact your head office with any queries to ensure your payment plans are aligned across the business.