Answering Your Questions on Building Patient Growth and Treatment Acceptance

In our recent webinar with The ADSO, Building New Patient Growth & Treatment Acceptance in the Midst of a Recession, we discussed strategies to drive practice growth despite uncertain economic times, with Membersy CEO, Michael Shuman, and Smile Brands VP of Payer Strategy, Tom Marshall. Despite the limited time, we received an overwhelming response from attendees and couldn't get to all the questions. This article aims to address some of those unanswered questions and provide additional insight into one particular strategy for practice success during tough times: implementing a membership plan. We will explore how a membership plan can help your practice attract new patients, increase treatment acceptance rates, and provide financial stability during economic downturns.

Q: We’re already short staffed and dealing with employees that feel stressed out and overworked. How do we implement something new, like a membership plan, without adding even more work for my team? 

A: Introducing a membership plan can actually help alleviate some of the workload and stress your team is currently experiencing, while also providing a valuable service to your patients.

One of the key benefits of a membership plan is that it can streamline your practice's administrative tasks and create more structure around cash-paying patients. With a membership plan, patients pay a monthly or annual fee to receive a range of dental services at a discounted price. This can eliminate the need for your team to deal with complex insurance billing and claims processes, freeing up time and reducing stress levels.

By partnering with a professional administrator, you can ensure your plan implementation won’t add any additional work for your team. These providers can handle many of the administrative tasks associated with the plan, such as billing, marketing, compliance, and customer service, leaving your team to focus on providing quality dental care to patients.

Q: I’ve been looking at a few different plan administrators - what are the top 2-3 things I should be comparing when looking for the right fit?

A: There are several factors to consider when comparing plan administrators for a membership plan. Here are a few areas that we consistently see DSOs focusing on: 

1. Comprehensive Training & Support: Training to continuously provide staff with the tools and resources they need to easily sell the plan to patients, and extended support to help your practice’s members get support with managing their plan.
2. Regulatory Compliance: Especially with larger organizations that span across several states, regulatory compliance can be cumbersome and overwhelming. Make sure your partner handles this for you and doesn’t leave the headache up to you and your legal team. 
3. Experience: Practices and DSOs come in all shapes and sizes. Make sure your plan administrator has experience working with organizations of your size so you know they have a proven track record, can scale with your organization, and support you as you continue to grow.

Q: Why should we use a partner vs. managing our own plan in-house? 

A: While managing a membership plan in-house may seem appealing, the cost of doing so can often outweigh the benefits. Some of the biggest obstacles to managing a plan internally include setting up administrative processes to collect payment and manage plan members, creating marketing materials to support the plan, experiencing a lack of reporting and analytics, and keeping up with regulatory compliance. 

Partnering with a professional administrator can help alleviate the burden of plan management and provide a range of benefits that outweigh the cost, including an increased likelihood patients will accept the treatment they need. An experienced partner like Membersy can provide you with maximized results, a support team for you and your patients, scalability, peace of mind, and a member experience second-to-none, while freeing up time for your team to focus on what they do best- providing quality dental care.

Find Out if a Membership Plan is Right for You

A membership plan can help your practice navigate through challenging times, while also expanding access to affordable care to those who need it most. On top of expanding care, you can increase treatment acceptance and services rendered by 2.5x, providing a significant boost to your practice's annual revenue. Chat with the Membersy team to learn how we can help you design a customized membership plan experience for your practice.