The current economic scenario does not always offer patients a way to pay for their treatments at full price. The price of some treatments, such as braces or root canal procedures, can be worth a fortune to some families in the UK. As such, to compete with other practices and attract more new patients to your practice, you have to do more than offer financing.
Dental insurance plans aren’t always seen in bright light at practices. However, you can achieve a mutually profitable partnership by tying up with one in the right way. Envisioning your insurance provider as a partner rather than someone reducing your profits would help you see a difference in the long run.
Looking at Insurance Under a New Light
While it is understandable to not like dental insurance providers for taking a cut in your profits, they will still help you boost your sales beyond what you thought possible earlier. By looking at them from a different perspective, you can make your partnership a profitable one.
Perform Dental Insurance Analysis
Analysing the impact that typing up with an insurance provider will have on your profits will help you have a clear idea of the future of your partnership. This will also allow you to make a better decision about how many plans your practice should participate in.
Negotiate Fees
While your insurer may not always go for high fees for participating, it is better to negotiate them before going further. Insurers are also unlikely to vote to increase fees since practices in plans help their business a lot more than other sources.
Maximise Insurance Usage from Patients
You should let your patients know about their insurance benefits and help them obtain them before expiration. You can also let them know about renewal dates, as this will help them plan the dates for visiting your practice and treatments.
Target Marketing
You can try focusing a part of your dental marketing campaign on patients who already have insurance. Doing this before accepting a deal with your insurance provider will help you get rough estimates about how your future workflow is bound to go.
Provide Insurance to Patients from Your Partnered Provider
Several patients today don’t have dental insurance either because they struggle with getting one themselves or their employer may not provide a dental plan. As such, you can support them through getting insurance, which will also help build patient loyalty for your practice.
How to Maintain a Blended Approach?
When forming a partnership with an insurance provider, it is good to start with a balance between participating with in-network providers and fee-for-service models. Crafting this balance may take time, but a few ideas can help you on the journey. In the end, it is vital to make this transition smooth for your existing patients to maintain loyalty.
Take Time Out for Each Patient
When partnering up with a dental insurance provider while also maintaining a fee-for-service model, you may need to take more time to treat each patient while being mindful of how long each process takes.
Build Trust
Communicating with your patients will help develop a long-lasting relationship. You can discuss the change in your practice with your patients and give them time to adjust to it. Over time, they will trust your insurance provider just as much as they trust you.
Have a Plan
It may be tempting to discuss all the available options with your patients to impress them, but it’s important not to overwhelm them with options. Instead, have a plan that would include only the best solutions for each patient.
Analyse Cost
Discussing the cost of treatment upfront will help you save time and explain to your patients the insurance plans available to them. This will also help you calculate your net profits.
Think About the Patient Experience
The experience that your patient has at your practice and with your provider’s insurance plan will define the future of your practice. Therefore, it is essential to pay close attention to the minor details and ensure that this experience is as smooth as possible.
How to Be Successful with Dental Insurance?
While it may seem staggering at first to deal with dental insurance providers for your practice, doing so can help you achieve new heights. Patients today expect practices to include insurance coverage to make treatments more affordable for them.
Educate Your Patients
Educating your patients about the insurance options available will help you stay out of the blame zone for specific treatments not being covered. In addition, it is a good idea to discuss your most popular treatments with your insurance partner to ensure that they are covered for all your patients.
Help Them Understand the Policy
It is good to explain your policy regarding copayment to your patients before beginning the treatment. This will allow them to make an informed decision on getting the treatment beforehand.
Support Your Patients
Do everything that is within your power to help your patients realise their insurance benefits. They are bound to notice this effort from your end and recommend your practice to others as well. Doing so would be an excellent dental marketing strategy with social proof.
Get Higher Profits with Dedicated Marketing
Tying up with a dental insurance provider is a big decision that will shape the future of your practice. This makes it vital to market your treatments and insurance options to patients most likely to convert.
If you are looking for dental marketing experts to help drive this campaign forward, Head45 Dental is at your service. We specialise in SEO, PPC, Web Design, and Social Media Marketing services for dental practices.