Senior care & aging services
Books and taxes for senior dental and mobile care.
A facility day fee split from per-patient insurance billing, slow claims, and portable equipment with its own write-off. Your own bookkeeper keeps it straight, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one clear number each month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
September netted $11,000. An insurance reimbursement from six weeks ago finally landed, so I matched it back to the visits it was for.
- Facility day rate, three stopsFacility day fees
- Dental insurance reimbursementInsurance and Medicare Advantage
- Payroll, hygienistsHygienist wages
- Henry Schein dental suppliesDental supplies
- Portable X-ray unit maintenanceEquipment maintenance
Why your books are different
A mobile dental practice's books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees a visit fee and a supply order. Your business blends a facility's flat day rate with per-patient insurance billing, waits weeks on claims, and runs a route that hits several communities in a day. When the books do not know that, a full schedule can still look thin.
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1
A facility day fee and per-patient billing land in one deposit
A community pays a flat day rate for the visit, while individual residents or their insurance pay separately for the actual procedures, and if both land in the same deposit without a split, it is hard to see which part of the day's income came from the contract versus the patients seen.
What we doSplits the facility's day fee from per-patient billing, so you can see what each part of a visit day actually brought in. -
2
Insurance reimbursement lands weeks after the visit
A cleaning or procedure billed to dental insurance or a Medicare Advantage dental benefit gets paid out weeks later, so a busy week of visits can show up as a thin one in the bank account until the claims catch up.
What we doTracks what has been billed against what has actually been paid, so a slow week from payment timing does not read as a bad one. -
3
Portable equipment costs get treated like a supply order
A portable dental chair or handheld X-ray unit is a significant piece of equipment, and if it gets filed the same way as a routine box of gloves, the write-off and the real cost of running a mobile practice both get muddled.
What we doFlags major equipment purchases the day they show up, logs them as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how to write them off. -
4
A multi-stop route hides what each facility is worth
A single day covering three or four communities blends drive time, supply use, and hygienist hours across every stop, so without splitting the day by facility, it is hard to tell which contracts are worth keeping and which barely cover the visit.
What we doSplits a route day's revenue and cost by facility, so you can see which contracts are actually worth the stop.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a mobile dental practice.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Facility contract day feesA flat rate a community pays for a scheduled visit day, regardless of how many residents are seen.
- Per-patient private-pay feesResidents or families paying directly for services insurance does not cover.
- Dental insurance and Medicare AdvantagePaid per procedure, after the visit and after claims are processed.
- Multi-facility route feesAn add-on when a single day covers several communities' worth of scheduling.
Money out
- Hygienist and provider wagesPaid for the visits and route days actually worked.
- Payroll taxes and workers compThe cost of employing clinical staff, not just paying them.
- Portable dental equipmentA portable chair, sterilizer, or handheld X-ray unit, and its maintenance.
- Dental suppliesGloves, fluoride, and disposable tools bought per visit.
- Vehicle costs for the routeFuel and maintenance for driving between facilities in a day.
- Licensing and malpractice insuranceCoverage and renewal fees for a mobile clinical practice.
- Sterilization and infection controlSupplies that keep portable equipment safe between stops.
What we watch for you
- Revenue per facility
What each community contract actually nets after the visit's real cost, tracked stop by stop.
- Days to insurance payment
How long a claim takes to pay out after the visit, so a slow week reads correctly.
- Equipment cost per route
Portable equipment and supplies against how many patients get seen on a route.
- Facility contract renewals
Which communities are up for a new contract and when, so a lapse does not surprise you.
Ask Gus
Things senior mobile dental owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
Into two pieces, the facility's day fee and what each patient's insurance or private pay brings in, so you can see what each part of the day actually earned.
Insurance claims pay out weeks after the visit. I track what has been billed against what has actually landed, so the gap makes sense.
Usually it can. I logged it as equipment, not supplies, and flagged it so the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
The tax side
The tax side of a mobile dental practice.
Most of what goes wrong here is telling equipment apart from supplies, and knowing who is really on your payroll.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Portable equipment as a real assetA portable dental chair, sterilizer, or handheld X-ray unit can usually be expensed the year purchased under Section 179, up to $2,560,000, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Vehicle costs for a multi-stop routeDriving between facilities in a single day is a real business cost, tracked either by the standard mileage rate of 72.5 cents through June 2026 and 76 cents after, or by actual vehicle costs.
- Hygienist and provider classificationA hygienist or dentist working scheduled visits under your direction is usually an employee, even if paid per visit or per day.
- 1099s for contracted providersA dentist or hygienist who genuinely sets her own schedule and works for more than one mobile practice, paid $2,000 or more in 2026, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
Deductions senior dental and mobile care providers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Portable equipment maintenance
- Dental supplies per visit
- Sterilization and infection control supplies
- Malpractice and liability insurance
- Licensing and renewal fees
- Vehicle maintenance for the route
- Continuing education
- Uniforms and scrubs
- Phone and tablet for scheduling
- Marketing to facility administrators
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A mobile dental practice's year, kept every month.
Facilities can call for a new contract any week of the year. Renewals and your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Facility contracts renewed
The team confirms which community contracts are renewing for the new year and reviews route scheduling, while this year's set-aside gets planned.
- April
Signed, filed, done
Your return is filed and signed between route days. The set-aside built since January already covers what is owed.
- July
Halfway on route revenue
A look at revenue per facility and equipment cost per route against the year's plan.
- October
Before the holiday crunch
Facilities often want visits wrapped up before the holidays. The team looks at route capacity and equipment needs before the crunch.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for senior dental and mobile care providers. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions senior mobile dental owners ask first.
A facility pays a day rate and patients pay through insurance too. How does that get split?
Into two pieces, the facility's day fee and what patients' insurance or private pay brings in, so you can see what each part of the day actually earned.
Why does a month with a full route schedule still look thin in the bank account?
Insurance and Medicare Advantage claims pay out weeks after a visit. Gus tracks what has been billed against what has actually landed, so the timing gap makes sense.
We bought a new portable X-ray unit. Is the whole cost written off this year?
Often it can be. Gus flags equipment purchases the day they show up and logs them as equipment, and the accountant decides with your whole year in view.
Can Gus help with our dental insurance billing or claims?
No, that runs through your own dental billing and coding process. Gus works from what lands in your bank account once a claim pays out.
One of our route stops barely seems worth the drive. How would I know?
Gus splits revenue and cost by facility on a route day, so you can see exactly which stops are worth keeping and which are not.
My books are behind from adding new facility contracts this year. Can you still help?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have. Gus separates each facility's day fees from insurance reimbursements as he catches things up, usually within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
More in senior care & aging services
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Adult day care centers
- Geriatric care managers
- Medical alert system dealers
- Residential care homes (board & care)
- Respite care providers
- Senior home safety assessments
- Senior living placement advisors
- Senior move managers & downsizing specialists
- Companion care services
- Memory care communities
- Small assisted living facilities
- Home health agencies (skilled)
- Hospice providers
- Non-medical home care agencies
What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever