The clinic's economy — health insurance and municipal dental care
Who pays for what, and why children go to the dentist for free
A dental clinic is also a business where time and materials cost money and where patients are charged differently depending on their age and situation. The education requires that you know about the public health insurance agreement, private health insurance and public and private dental care systems — it is necessary to understand why two patients in the waiting room can be charged very differently.
§Adults: partial co-payment with subsidy
Adults generally pay themselves a large part of their dental treatment but receive a public subsidy for a number of treatments via the collective agreement between dentists and the public sector. The size of the subsidy varies with the type of treatment. Many supplement with private health insurance that covers part of the co-payment — it is one of the questions patients often ask at the counter.
§Children and young people: free municipal dental care
According to the Health Act, municipalities must offer free preventive and treatment dental care to children and young people living in the municipality. The right takes effect automatically at birth without parents having to register the child themselves. The arrangement applies regardless of whether dental care is provided at a municipal clinic or with a practicing dentist the municipality has an agreement with. In recent years the free arrangement has been gradually expanded from 18 years to cover more young age groups, which has made the subject particularly relevant in clinics' administration.
| Situation | Who pays |
|---|---|
| Child/youth in municipal dental care | Free of charge — the public (the municipality) pays |
| Adult public scheme | The patient himself with a public subsidy for parts of the treatment |
| Adult with private dental insurance | The patient, partially refunded by the insurance company |
| Free choice of private dentist for a child under 16 | The parents pay a co-payment for the extra cost the rest is covered by the municipality |
§From treatment to invoice
When a treatment is finished it must be converted to a correct dental bill reflecting the services performed and any subsidies. Being able to use methods for filling dental bills including possibly reminder letters for non-payment is a concrete administrative aim in the education. The clinic's daily income and expenses are also tracked in a cash journal continuously kept and reconciled — another task the assistant often handles.
§Inventory management and sustainability
The clinic's economy is also linked to purchasing: ordering materials and medicines as well as good inventory management so the clinic neither runs out nor binds unnecessary capital in overstuffed cabinets. Sustainability is now part of this task — choosing and ordering with consideration for environmental aspects and rational workflows is explicitly mentioned in the program's administration subject.