Cost is the biggest obstacle for patients in need of dental care. Here, we will explore how dental patient financing can solve these issues.
For most dental practices, case acceptance rates are a never-ending challenge. As the costs of care increase and insurance fails to fully cover more treatments, many patients are concerned about affordability. For this reason, patients may ultimately decline or defer as much as 20-40% of recommended treatment due to cost concerns. As a dentist, this can be frustrating and disheartening when financial barriers outside your control prevent you from delivering the care people need. But what if those declined or deferred recommended treatments could be approved immediately, allowing patients to receive care as soon as the day they arrive at your practice? This is where dental patient financing comes into play.
Patient financing has become foundational to building a sustainable practice by increasing treatment acceptance, boosting loyalty, and stabilizing practice finances. It provides a path to turn that “what if” into reality.
By offering responsible financing options in your practice, you have the power to break down financial barriers that prevent dental care. By offering patient financing, you have the potential to increase case acceptance rates in your practice well above the current rates. Patients will receive timely care, leading to better outcomes. Your staff will face fewer denied or delayed treatment frustrations. You will also have the confidence knowing more people are getting the level of dentistry they deserve.
What is Dental Patient Financing?
Dental patient financing refers to a range of payment options that allow patients to pay for dental care over time in monthly installments. Patients can immediately get the treatment they need while paying a specified amount each month. The two most common types of patient financing are installment plans and credit-based solutions.
With an installment plan, the patient pays a fixed amount each month over a set period with a fixed interest rate. A line of credit also allows patients to pay over time but acts more like a credit card. Providers approve patients for a maximum credit limit, and many practices collaborate with third-party financing companies to offer these solutions.
Why Dental Patient Financing Matters
A recent survey conducted by Synchrony found that the majority of consumers (58%) felt dental care was not affordable. And for those living without dental insurance, that number increased to 75%. Nearly all surveyed (92%) said they would potentially postpone general dentistry treatments due to cost concerns.
In the same survey, more than four-fifths (83%) indicated they may delay emergency care for the same reason. For over half of patients (54%), costs were the leading barrier to visiting the dentist in the previous 12 months. Of those patients who did defer care due to costs, nearly half reported their delay resulted in new dental problems that required treatment.
These statistics show the serious impact of cost obstacles on patient access to dental services. When patients cannot afford the care they need, minor issues go unaddressed. They also often escalate into complicated, painful, and expensive-to-treat conditions.
Cost Obstacles Dental Patient Financing Addresses
Dental patient financing helps address cost obstacles in several ways:
- Makes expensive dental care affordable by breaking up payments over time with low or no interest. Instead of paying the full amount upfront, patients can pay over months, easing the financial burden.
- Provides a way for patients to get necessary care now and pay later. With financing, patients can receive treatment immediately and pay over time, rather than delaying care until they save enough to afford it. This results in better outcomes because issues are addressed quickly before becoming more complicated, and potentially life-threatening.
- Gives patients more control and flexibility. With options to pay over time, high-quality dental care becomes realistic and worry-free.
- Leads to higher case acceptance rates. With a way for patients to say “yes” to recommended treatments, care that would be deferred or denied due to cost can be approved.
- Improves patient satisfaction and loyalty. By providing a means for patients to access care despite financial challenges, practices can build goodwill and long-term relationships with patients. Patients become advocates and continue returning for all their dental needs.
Key Benefits of Offering Dental Patient Financing
Increased Treatment Acceptance
Dental care can involve expensive treatments, so financing helps make those services more affordable. For example, a patient may not be able to afford $5,000 for implants without a payment plan. With financing, the patient can get the implants they need and pay over time with monthly installments. This kind of peace of mind and the ability to get necessary care is invaluable for patients. Increased revenue and cash flow are important benefits of offering dental patient financing. However, the wider impact is the opportunity to provide patients with needed dental care.
Improved Patient Satisfaction and Retention
A key trend affecting dentistry is the increasing demand for major procedures like dental implants, cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, and complete smile makeovers. Offering in-house dental patient financing options can have meaningful benefits for practices by boosting patient satisfaction and strengthening long-term loyalty and retention. When patients undergo a procedure that they want or need, but cannot afford without financing, their appreciation is strengthened. They recognize the practice made their care a priority by offering a solution to overcome financial obstacles. This positively impacts their view of the practice and the likelihood of recommending it to others.
Financing fosters long-term loyalty by cementing the practice-patient relationship through consistent, ongoing contact throughout the payment plan. Patients become accustomed to a practice that proactively meets their needs each month with a bill and payment platform for their financing plan. They come to rely on and value that level of service and partnership.
Loyalty translates to commitment to the practice for ongoing and future care. Financing patients may stay 2 to 3 times longer than non-financing patients. They also have their continued dental health needs met by the practice that has already shown its affordability and financing service solutions to them.
Enhanced Cash Flow and Revenue Stability
Depending on the dental patient financing solution selected, providers may receive payment in full upfront, or receive consistent monthly payments over time from patients. The predictability of payments streamlines the revenue cycle so the practice is less dependent on the uncertain timing of insurance reimbursements or patient portions due at the time of service.
Financing also increases the likelihood of patients paying for treatment in full. The duration of installment plans provides more time and more manageable payments for patients to cover total costs. This is compared to often unrealistic expectations of large out-of-pocket amounts. Smaller installment payments are budget-friendly for patients, so the shock of large out-of-pocket costs is avoided, reducing default rates.
Implementing Dental Patient Financing in Your Practice Overcomes Payment Challenges
Assessing Your Practice's Needs
Evaluate your patient demographics and types of procedures offered to determine the level of need for financing options. If patients continue to say “no” or “maybe another time” when it comes to treatment that you recommend due to the upfront costs, financing can help address this.
Study the price points of procedures to choose financing plans appropriate for the range of fees charged. For higher fees, longer-lasting installments or low-interest options may be better, and smaller plans may be better for some routine costs.
Promoting Financing Options to Patients
Properly communicate the availability of financing on your practice website, social media pages, and during in-person consultations. Talk about the specific plans offered and highlight the key benefits, such as low or no upfront payments and interest rates. Discuss dental patient financing early in treatment plan discussions before patients become overwhelmed by estimated costs. Explain how installments make dental care a reality through budget-friendly payments.
Addressing Patient Concerns
Common concerns include fear of debt or interest charges and worries over income loss before paying in full. Reassure patients by explaining low default rates, lack of late fees or penalties, and flexibility if financial circumstances change. Highlight standards that ensure the privacy and security of personal information during the application process. Focus discussions on the goal of their dental health and wellness to provide reassurance that financing will support, not hurt, that outcome.
Managing the Administrative Load
Implementing dental patient financing requires making a few adjustments to your practice management systems and staff roles. However, streamlining the process through best practices and automation helps minimize any added burden.
Train employees in discussing options, submitting applications, and servicing accounts. Choose a financing partner that can fully integrate into your current systems for insurance eligibility, billing, and reporting. For convenience, opt for a paperless application process that allows patients to apply and sign documents electronically.
Integrated Patient Financing Solutions: BillFlash FlexPay
BillFlash FlexPay is one solution that integrates with existing practice management software to streamline billing and payments. By reducing the financial burden, FlexPay leads to greater treatment acceptance and patient satisfaction.
What is FlexPay?
FlexPay is an integrated patient financing solution that allows practices to offer payment plans to their patients while ensuring the practice gets paid in full upfront. With this solution, every patient who qualifies will receive an interest-free payment plan option. FlexPay helps to reduce patient financial burden, leading to improved treatment acceptance and revenue.
Benefits of FlexPay for Your Dental Practice
- Patients can pay monthly, making treatment more affordable and accessible.
- The practice gets paid in full at the time of service, reducing the financial burden.
- FlexPay automatically determines a patient's eligibility through a quick application that takes less than a minute.
- With approval rates of 90%, the majority of your patients will have the opportunity to be enrolled in a payment plan.
- Your patients' credit score can be as low as 500 and still be accepted for patient financing options.
- This solution integrates with over 100+ existing EMR systems.
By making dental expenses more affordable, FlexPay plays a part in patients receiving the care they need, even if the out-of-pocket costs were previously unaffordable. Compared to other dental patient financing options like medical credit cards or personal loans, FlexPay is truly a win-win. Patients avoid high monthly bills, while dental practices receive full payment immediately and benefit from increased revenue and improved patient satisfaction.
Unlock Your Revenue Potential With BillFlash FlexPay
Cost remains the biggest obstacle for patients in need of dental care. BillFlash FlexPay will allow your practice to make high-quality, life-changing dentistry affordable and accessible for all patients. All in all, dental practices that understand what patients need and want will be better positioned to bring in patients who need help with the cost. To learn more about BillFlash FlexPay and other billing, payment, and collection solutions for your dental practice, schedule a demo with us today. We look forward to showing you how integrated dental patient financing can open new possibilities for your practice and patients.