Now’s a great time to encourage patients to use their dental insurance benefits
before they expire at the end of the year.
Here are a few easy ways to help patients optimize their benefits and for you to optimize production.
Get Unaccepted Treatment Off the Charts and on the Schedule
The holidays are here, and budgets may be tight, but with your Dentrix software integration, it is easier than ever to identify patients with incomplete treatment and/or needed hygiene who have unused dental benefits. You can help patients get the care they want and need by proactively contacting them via email or phone to let them know you:
- Want to help them use their dental insurance benefits to the fullest before they expire them at the end of the year.
- Have reviewed their chart and they either have incomplete dentistry or have not seen the hygienist in a while.
- Have confirmed that their insurance benefits will cover all or some of the costs.
- Have limited available appointments left through the end of year and want to make sure they get one that’s convenient for them.
- Will make them a priority on the schedule.
It’s important to start the conversation with the patient about optimizing insurance, incomplete dentistry or hygiene, overcoming the cost objection and urgency.
Give Patients a Way to Accept Recommended Care
When patients come in for their appointment, some may have a gap between what their insurance will contribute and the total cost of care. Others may have undiagnosed dentistry uncovered during their hygiene appointment or the initial examination. Here’s a quick script that may help overcome cost barriers, especially during this time of year.
“Mrs. Jones, we’re excited we are going to be able to maximize this year’s insurance benefits for you and that you are going to be able to get the dentistry you need. There’s nothing like having a healthy, beautiful smile for the holidays! It looks like, after we’ve applied all your dental benefits, there is going to be an out-of-pocket cost. We all have a lot of expenses this time of year. We want you to know we accept the CareCredit credit card. With CareCredit, you may be able to take advantage of promotional financing for your out-of-pocket expense of $950. Would you like to see monthly payment options?”
NOTE: You can use the online payment calculator or the patient financing brochure to show estimated monthly payment information and disclosures to the patient. Both are available on the Provider Center.
Another question you can ask is:
“Would you like to see if you prequalify for the CareCredit credit card – without impacting your credit bureau score?”
NOTE: Providers can refer patients to prequalify at carecredit.com or via their custom link.
CareCredit’s Quickscreen integration allows your practice to check which patients are pre-approved for a CareCredit credit card or those who are existing cardholders and if they have credit available.\
Start the New Year Off Strong
While reviewing incomplete dentistry, you may also want to contact patients who have incomplete treatment or need hygiene but have used all of their insurance benefits. The goal would be to schedule them in January and February when their coverage renews.
Proactively reaching out to patients with incomplete dentistry to get them back in the chair can help enable them to start the year healthy and can help you end the year strong.
Learn More
The CareCredit integration with Dentrix offers many opportunities to create an efficient system for your team while helping more patients get the treatment they need.
Click for more information on the CareCredit integration features, or to learn how to activate CareCredit in Dentrix. Click to learn more about the benefits of accepting CareCredit in your practice.
