Successful dental practices treat patients and provide an environment where professionals are ready to provide high-quality care. This requires precise attention to detail in office payroll systems, one of the most essential jobs of any dental practice owner. Choosing the right provider can improve morale, meet regulatory requirements, and create a more profitable practice. Choosing the wrong one can reverse these benefits.
This article reviews the essential criteria to consider when choosing a dental payroll provider. The goal should be to select the highest-quality provider and the best one for the dental office’s distinct needs.
Step #1: Establish the Practice’s Needs
Each dental practice has specific payroll requirements related to a few factors. The number of employees at the practice determines how extensive the system needs to be. Whether the employees are paid hourly, salary, or a mix makes a difference. The payroll system requirements may change if the office offers employees part-time contracts, bonuses, commissions, or other irregular benefits.
The best dental payroll systems cater to assorted staffing strategies with more employees and roles to track. Some practices only have a few hygienists and dental assistants, while others have a large team of associates and administrative staff. The payroll provider chosen should be able to accommodate the practice’s payment, benefits, and staffing systems to maintain accuracy and compliance, no matter the size of the team.
Step #2: Make Compliance a Priority
Assessing dental practice needs is the first step in prioritizing compliance, but it doesn’t solve every problem. Even minor payroll errors can lead to harsh penalties that impact a practice’s finances or operating status.
The payroll system chosen should have compliance measures to help the practice calculate and file its payroll taxes. This includes automatic withholding for state and federal taxes. Practices need a provider that stays updated on local laws and IRS requirements for healthcare practices by offering modern electronic tax filing, processing, and time-tracking systems. Some providers offer audit support services to prepare the practice for potential compliance issues.
Step #3: Evaluate User-Friendliness
The best dental payroll system includes valuable features and is intuitive for employees and administrators. This includes a user-friendly dashboard, clear reporting tools, and uncomplicated browsing.
Another essential feature in today’s payroll systems is mobile access integration. Administrators should be able to view their payroll data on an easy-to-use portal. Employees should be able to view their pay stubs, manage their benefits, request time off and shift changes, update personal information, and more from the employee side of the system.
A payroll system with versatile self-service tools helps employees manage their information, saving administrators time and effort usually spent dealing with day-to-day employee tasks. This requires a system that is simple to use, accessible from most modern devices, and centralized with a cohesive user dashboard.
Step #4: Check for Management Integration
Modern dental practices use multiple management software systems for payroll, accounting, HR, and more. They use them to reduce human errors related to manual data entry, centralize information and analytics, and provide patients with a more seamless experience.
Switching payroll providers can cause issues with the current setup since not every provider can integrate with the practice’s current systems. This is an important factor to consider when choosing a new provider, as the goal is to streamline operations rather than disrupt them.
Step #5: Seek Industry-Specific Features
Many payroll providers can adapt their systems to dental practices. However, dental practices have many distinct needs related to their industry. The best dental payroll provider would cater to those needs first by recognizing the specific healthcare compliance requirements that govern the practice. For example, HIPAA is the organization that determines the security measures necessary to collect and store employee data safely.
Credentials, eligibility requirements, training, and benefits often differ for healthcare workers compared to workers in other fields. Dental payroll providers should know these specific factors and create a system catered to the needs of offices in this industry.
Step #6: Prioritize Long-Term Support
The best payroll providers do not deliver the software and leave the practice to figure it out independently. They offer dedicated customer support and long-term specialized industry support to help the practice adapt to new workflows, solve new problems, and integrate its systems. Payroll providers should be available by phone, chat, or email to help practices resolve issues and adapt to their new payroll system.
Partner With Financial Professionals to Update Your Dental Practice
Seamless payroll software is an essential part of any modern dental practice. However, the best payroll solutions cost money. Many new and existing practices struggle to find the best payment software within their budget range, which includes finding a provider who knows the regulations in the dental healthcare industry.
At Woodsboro Bank, our financial teams know this industry and the software features that practices need. Our loan officers help practices qualify for dental practice loans, which, when spent on workflow tools such as a new payroll provider, can result in higher employee satisfaction, lower employee turnover, and a more seamless customer experience.
Contact our team today to learn how your dental practice can qualify for loans to upgrade to the best dental payroll solutions for your employees.