Frequently Asked Dental Membership Plan Questions (FAQs)
The dental space is dynamic, and dentists, office managers, and other dental professionals must choose solutions that produce tangible ROI. That means everything from maximizing the value of patients seen each day to having a strong collections infrastructure.
At Kleer, we're big fans of practices leveraging subscription-based dental membership plans to meet these goals, but we still get asked, "Are dental membership plans worth it for my practice?" and "Do I need to use a third-party membership plan platform to see results?"
Well, we've helped thousands of practices build sustainable, revenue-generating membership plans. This article will provide some background on these frequently asked questions.
Q: Are dental membership plans worth it?
A: At its core, dental membership plans enable practices to offer affordable, personalized dental coverage directly to patients. These plans often include regular check-ups, cleanings, x-rays, and savings on additional procedures. The transparency and predictability of costs empower patients to prioritize their oral health.
We know what you're thinking, "Sounds great, but what does that mean for my business?"
When patients feel in control of their oral health and understand the cost of care, they are more incentivized to take advantage of the benefits included in their plan and follow through with appointments and treatment recommendations — which will ultimately benefit practice performance.
Four advantages of implementing a dental membership plan:
1. Greater engagement among your patient base
Patients, specifically uninsured or fee-for-service patients enrolled in a dental membership plan, are more likely to return for regular check-ups and cleanings as they have already paid for these services.
This can help practices build stronger, long-term relationships with their patients, leading to increased loyalty, fewer missed appointments, and a greater number of referrals.
2. Build a sustainable stream of recurring revenue to diversify practice income
By charging patients a set fee for a package of services, practices can ensure a steady stream of income rather than relying on delayed reimbursements from insurance providers or patients who only come in for an occasional visit. This can help practices better manage their finances and forecast for the future.
3. Attract new patients previously deterred by high out-of-pocket costs.
Offering a more affordable option for dental care, practices can tap into a previously untapped market of potential patients. This can help grow your practice's patient base and increase revenue in the long run.
4. Empower your dental team to break free from bad PPOs
An in-house membership plan gives you an alternative coverage option to offer to existing patients as you drop underperforming PPOs. You are in control and can eliminate the hassles, costs, and ever-declining reimbursements of insurance and third-party payers.
Three common dental membership plan concerns:
1."My cash-paying patients willingly pay full fee. Why should I offer savings through a membership plan?"
While some cash-paying patients may be willing to pay full fee your patients without dental coverage visit significantly less than patients with dental coverage.
When you work with Kleer, we help practices build price-optimized plans to balance the needs of both patients and providers.
We'll even run the numbers with data from your PMS to show your membership plan opportunity and its impact on visits, treatment acceptance, production, and collections.
2. My team is facing operational and staffing challenges; why should we make time to implement?"
Imagine the time and effort your team could save on administrative tasks such as insurance billing and collections with a streamlined membership program. By freeing up time, your team can focus on providing top-quality patient care without insurance interference.
3. New patient specials work well for us and help attract new patients. How does a membership plan compare?"
New patient specials often attract patients who are not interested in a long-term commitment to care and give patients no incentive to come back.
Patients attracted to these promotions are more interested in getting a deal than maintaining good oral health. It's a revolving door that can only be stopped once you've solidified a patient's commitment to care.
Q: What are the benefits of using a third-party membership plan platform vs in-house?
A: Choosing whether to implement a third-party membership plan platform or manage an in-house solution is crucial for dental practices. Here are some key considerations and benefits associated with each approach.
Third-party dental membership platforms ease administrative work
Utilizing a third-party membership plan platform like Kleer gives you direct access to industry experts specializing in designing and managing high-performing plans.
We also guarantee the certainty, stability, and reliability that Kleer's software will function the same way every single time — from member sign-ups and patient use to payments and deposits.
Practices opting for an in-house solution must invest time and resources in developing a comprehensive enrollment, tracking, and reporting workflow and managing state and federal compliance.
Membership plan fees are drastically lower than insurance fees.
Some dental teams are concerned that fees charged by third-party dental membership plan companies will cut into revenue. This is a valid concern, but what about insurance companies who collect anywhere from 30-40% of production?
At Kleer, our average platform fees amount to less than 10%, which goes towards creating efficiencies through automation, integrations, and 1:1 support to free up time.
Managing an in-house plan is possible; many of our best-performing customers started with their own plans. But there is unlimited value in maximizing what your team can accomplish in a day in exchange for a small fee.
Membership plan platforms have robust payments and collections infrastructure to reduce errors and missed patient payments
Kleer-powered membership plans eliminate the time-intensive, annoying task of manually posting payments to your PMS, inputting patient information during enrollment, and tracking patient benefits used and remaining.
Kleer will also automatically contact patients with past due subscriptions and enable them to pay by text or email so your team doesn’t have to.
Automating patient follow-up, payment collection, and writing payments back to your PMS gives a boost of efficiency that every office manager and administrative team needs.
Automatically market a membership plan that's an extension of your brand
Most people are not marketing experts, and most practices need more time and budget to build a comprehensive marketing strategy.
With Kleer, practices can automatically identify and market to patients in your PMS who are a good fit for your membership plan, including active uninsured patients, dormant uninsured patients, and dormant insured patients.
Patients will receive personalized emails — leveraging your brand colors, logo, and images to maximize member enrollment.
Build your membership plan with Kleer
That's frequently asked membership plan questions explained. So are they worth it? Should you leverage a third-party platform like Kleer? It's really up to you to decide.
We're here when you're ready and every step of the way so building your program doesn't have to feel like a chore. Get started today!
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Our experts will show you how our advanced, cloud-based membership plan platform—coupled with resources, tools and support from the experts at Kleer, can bring your practice phenomenal results.
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