A monthly invoice with fifty lines
The aligner provider's invoice lists cases by patient name or case number, with charges for initial aligners, additional aligners, replacements and retainers. Separately, the practice charged each family a fee, often a single package fee that includes refinements. Separately again, each case used a number of chair visits.
The practice owner suspects that some case types are much less profitable than others, especially those with several refinements, but cannot see it without a long spreadsheet exercise that nobody has time for.
Replacement aligners add noise. A lost aligner mid-treatment generates a charge weeks later, sometimes on a different invoice, and it is rarely clear whether the practice absorbed it or passed it on to the family.
Why case costs stay hidden
- Provider invoices are monthly, not per case.
- Refinements and replacements are charged at different times from the original case.
- Fees are recorded in the practice management system, costs in accounts.
- Chair time is not linked to case costs.
- Package fees hide the effect of extra refinements.
What not knowing costs
Fee decisions made without evidence. Package structures that may not cover the cases with more refinements. No early warning when a case is heading over its expected costs. And no data to use in conversations with the aligner provider about pricing tiers.
Clinicians may also approach aligner cases differently, some requesting refinements more readily than others. That is a clinical matter for them, but without figures the practice cannot even see whether there is a difference to talk about.
The per-case view we build
- Provider invoices are read each month from PDF or CSV, and each line is matched to the patient's case by case number or name and date.
- Charges are grouped per case: initial aligners, refinements, replacements and retainers.
- Chair visits for the case are counted from your diary, and a chair-time cost you set is applied if you want one.
- The fee charged is read from your practice management system or payment records.
- Each case shows fee, direct costs and visits side by side, with totals by case type, clinician and package.
- Cases with more refinements or visits than a threshold you set are listed for review.
- Unmatched invoice lines go to a short list for a person.
| Per case | Source |
|---|---|
| Fee charged | Practice system or payments |
| Aligner charges | Provider invoices |
| Refinements and replacements | Provider invoices |
| Visits | Diary |
We show the figures. Fee setting and any change to packages are business decisions for your practice.
Fee decisions backed by numbers
The practice owner sees which case types and packages cover their costs. Cases heading over are visible while they are in progress. Conversations about fees, packages and provider terms are based on your own data. And month end involves checking a short list of unmatched lines instead of a spreadsheet exercise.
Provider invoices are also checked more closely than before. Charges for cases that have finished, duplicate replacement charges and items that do not match any patient are caught in the monthly review rather than paid without question.
When the practice reviews its aligner packages, the discussion starts from actual cases, grouped by complexity or package, rather than from a sense that some cases feel expensive.
Is this your practice?
- You do not know the cost of each aligner case.
- Provider invoices are paid without matching to cases.
- You suspect some packages do not cover refinements.
- Fee reviews are based on instinct.