On many occasions for professionals, the problem is not a lack of work, but rather getting paid for those jobs.. Certain things are expendable, However, oral health, in its healing aspect at least, it is not, And because of that, patients will continue to go to clinics to solve their health problems. The problem will come later when they can't, or do not want to pay.

Therefore you have to adopt certain precautions that allow the professional to charge for the work performed, and if due to the resistance of the debtor it is necessary to go to court, that at least be done with guarantees.

The most common problem that continues to arise when claiming a debt in this sector is the lack of budget. That the patients are known or habitual, that a priori the work to be carried out cannot always be specified, or simply the custom and good faith deposited in patients, make that sometimes there is no budget, make it verbal, or that the patient has not signed the copy of the clinic giving their agreement to it.

At this point, it is necessary to become aware that when a patient is cared for, a contractual relationship is established with him., so that it is important to leave a written record of the terms of this relationship and the patient's compliance with it. Currently in all the services that we hire they make us sign contracts (light, Water, mobile, etc.), so if we agree to sign all those contracts Why not document the contractual relationship with our patients?

• Present the budget as a guarantee:

The budget must be presented to the patient as a guarantee for him, for what, in advance, know the work that will be done and the cost that it will have, and so, you can freely decide on it before starting it.

• Make a first budget:

In many cases, initially not all jobs can be completed, therefore, a first budget will have to be made, with the necessary caveats, and if necessary, then it will have to be adjusted by expanding it or complementing what was necessary. The important thing is that in the end the patient has agreed to all the work carried out and at its cost.

• In case of debt:

If the debt has to be claimed, judicial or extrajudicially, it is up to us to prove the existence of the debt, and arrived at the judicial phase, the testimony of the employees or the statement of the legal representative of the clinic is not always enough, that's why you have to be able Document the contractual relationship with the patient and the terms in which it was contracted, mainly the economic ones and the accepted budget, together with the invoice to be issued at the end of the treatment, will be the ideal documents for it.

Another issue to assess is that even accepting the budget in writing, the financial difficulties of the patient may prevent charging for the treatment, therefore a recommended option is to divide the payment by signing a debt acknowledgment that collects it. Agreeing it verbally is not advisable, because it may have little success, but if it is documented, the patient is aware of the existence of the debt and its amount, which will facilitate collection, in addition to serving as additional evidence when claiming judicially.

You also have to take into account the short statute of limitations to claim the debt from patients, which is three years, Unless due to a reliable claim it has been interrupted. Thus, claims correctly made via burofax will be very useful, since they will serve as an extrajudicial claim, they will allow the interruption of the term to claim and will set the beginning of the accrual of interest on the debt.

Definitely, which it is convenient to document our clinical and financial relationship with patients, as this will reduce the chances of having delinquent patients, and to have them, It will allow us to legally claim the debt with guarantees, so that at least the work with those patients does not cost us money.