My adorable periodontal party people:

Lemme guess. You’ve got a “dedicated” in-house billing person. They know how your office works! They're great!

Until the front desk calls in sick…

Until your patients start walking in for their appointments...

Until the phones start ringing…

And now your "billing person" is checking patients in and out and answering phones instead of chasing claims and following up on past due balances. AGH!

Sound familiar?

(Tale as old as tiiiiiiime...

no but for real that literally happens all the time right?)

In this episode of The Truth Decay Podcast, Sara Baker and LaRae McMullen break down one of the biggest financial questions that dental practice owners find themselves facing in 2026: the in-house vs. outsourced billing dilemma.

Whether you’re trying to save money, stabilize collections, or just avoid the next staffing disaster, this episode will help you weigh your real costs — and make a smart, scalable decision.

You’ll learn:

• Why one person can’t handle billing and everything else, all the time
• The real math behind in-house billing costs (spoiler: it’s more than you think)
• How outsourcing solves for PTO, sick days, and turnover
• Why good billing needs consistency — not chaos
• The difference between DIY chaos and full-scale RCM
• What gets missed when billing is pulled to the front desk
• Why outsourcing is no longer a “last resort” — it’s a strategic move

If your claims are sitting, your AR is ballooning, or you’re just tired of the hiring merry-go-round — this one’s for yoooou.

🎧 Available on all major podcast platforms

📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQCnjob1774

→ thetruthdecaypodcast.com

📩 Have a question? Email us at hello@thetruthdecaypodcast.com

🌐 Learn more at sddentalsolutions.com

My enchanting enamel enthusiasts... picture this: you’re slammed. The schedule’s packed. The vibe is busy.

But the bank account?

…crickets.

That “we feel slammed but we can’t make payroll” energy is more common than you think — and it usually means one thing: you’re flying blind on your numbers.

In this episode of The Truth Decay Podcast, Sara Baker and LaRae McMullen run a full KPI check-up. Because whether you feel rich or feel broke, only the numbers can tell you the truth.

And when they’re ignored? Your AR stacks, collections stall, and profitability disappears into the void.

You’ll learn:

• What a healthy AR Ratio actually looks like — and why it matters
• The difference between net and gross collections (and why it’s killing your cashflow)
• Why over-90-day AR = a systems failure
• How to actually read your KPI reports — not just run them
• The metrics that reveal whether your systems or your team need a tune-up
• Why “busy” doesn’t always mean “profitable” — and how to fix it

Whether your numbers look fine or feel scary, this episode will help you figure out where your practice is actually bleeding — and what to do next.

🎧 Available on all major podcast platforms

📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpJ5LtLs_ZQ

Come check us out → thetruthdecaypodcast.com

📩 Have a question? Email us at hello@thetruthdecaypodcast.com

🌐 Learn more at sddentalsolutions.com

If you’ve ever heard a patient say, “Wait… why do I owe anything?” — congrats, you’ve just discovered what happens when your front desk is operating in a culture of avoidance instead of a culture of accountability. And nothing tanks cash flow faster.

In this episode, Sara and LaRae dig into one of the most expensive cracks in the dental workflow: the missing, rushed, or terrified money conversation at check-in. Because it doesn’t matter how clean your claims are — if no one prepped the patient before treatment, your AR is about to turn into a bonfire.

💥 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why “We’ll just bill your insurance!” is the most expensive sentence in dentistry
• How avoidance culture at the front desk silently destroys collections
• Why even great front-desk employees fail without training and scripting
• How verification, communication, and expectation-setting protect revenue
• How your AR Ratio exposes deeper process issues

💡 Top takeaways:

1️⃣ Your front-desk process IS your billing process — build it intentionally.

2️⃣ Money conversations aren’t rude. Surprise bills are.

3️⃣ Accountability beats avoidance every time — for patients, teams, and collections.

Sara and LaRae share real stories from practices where great people were set up to fail, not because they didn’t care — but because no one created a system that empowered them to succeed. You’ll walk away with the exact scripts, touchpoints, and workflow improvements that transform your front desk into the first line of revenue protection.

🎧 Available on all major podcast platforms

📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiQeOxeIGoU

📩 Have a question? Email hello@thetruthdecaypodcast.com

🌐 Learn more → sddentalsolutions.com