Many dental practices partner with third-party financing companies to provide patients with affordable treatment payment plans. This can be an effective way to encourage timely payment and eliminate financial barriers.
Other options for patient payments include healthcare credit cards and dental discount plans—these work similarly to insurance but without a deductible and annual limit.
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Flexible Payment Options
Many patients are afraid to go for necessary dental procedures and examinations due to their expensive costs. By implementing flexible payment options, you can help patients overcome this barrier to care and boost patient retention rates while increasing revenue.
Offering dental financing helps patients budget their treatment expenses into affordable monthly payments, which can be easier than dealing with high-interest rates from third-party lenders. In-house financing plans allow patients to borrow money from your practice directly, with the option of extending repayment terms. This financing solution can also be paired with other financial assistance or supplemental insurance coverage.
When patients don’t have the funds to pay for their medical treatments upfront, they often skip the procedure altogether or seek other alternatives, which is a loss of opportunity for both the patient and the clinic. A dental payment plan allows patients to break down enormous treatment costs into smaller monthly payments, eliminating the burden of upfront expenses and preventing missed opportunities for your patients’ oral health. Moreover, as individuals prioritize their oral health, exploring affordable options becomes crucial; payment plans for dental care, for instance, offer a practical and flexible approach to managing the costs of necessary treatments, ensuring that dental well-being remains accessible to a broader range of individuals.
When you have a dental credit card payment option, your patients can easily apply online, in-office, or through their dentist, with some requiring less information and documentation. The best dental credit card payment options feature low APRs and lenient credit requirements, which can accommodate individuals with lower credit scores.
In-House Payment Options
In-house dental financing options allow patients to spread the cost of their treatment over a set period. These plans can be offered by a dentist directly or through third-party lenders. In-house dental financing options can help to increase accessibility by making treatments more affordable to a broader demographic of patients.
Healthcare credit cards are a common way to pay for dental care when insurance isn’t available. These cards cover out-of-pocket dental expenses, like copays and deductibles. They’re usually unsecured loans that work similarly to traditional credit cards, and many feature a zero-interest period (often up to 24 months) for those who can afford to pay off their debts before the promotional period ends.
Patient financing options through third-party lenders, such as personal loans or online lending platforms, are another popular way to finance dental procedures. These loans are typically unsecured and offer a range of interest rates and repayment terms to suit individual needs.
Lastly, some dental practices use internal payment options such as dental membership savings plans or dental payment-by-text solutions to make it easier for patients to access the care they need. These plans work to reduce barriers to care by allowing individuals to budget and manage payments through an easy-to-use digital platform with tools such as soft credit checks and payment visualization.
Credit Card Payment Options
Credit cards allow patients to pay for dental procedures upfront and repay the amount over time. Most dental offices have in-house credit card payment options or work with a third-party provider to offer their patients payment plans. When using a credit card at the dentist, make sure you read the fine print, as the terms and conditions can vary greatly.
Most dental offices have specialized credit card terminals to process payments, whether mag-stripe, chip, or NFC tap-to-go readers. These devices securely capture the card’s data and connect to a payment gateway for authorization. A payment gateway is a bank-backed server that verifies the card’s credentials, checks for available funds, and approves or denies the transaction. If a transaction is rejected, the bank notifies the merchant, and the cardholder is issued a chargeback.
The most common type of credit card payment option for dental care is a 0% APR card. These cards often feature a promotional period, typically six to 18 months, during which the cardholder doesn’t incur interest charges. However, it’s essential to understand that the balance will accrue interest at the standard purchase APR once the promotional APR period ends. To avoid paying interest, paying off the entire balance before the promotional APR period expires is essential. If that isn’t possible, a personal loan can be another option.
Insurance Payment Options
Many dental payment plans are offered through third parties such as private insurers, dental credit cards, or other financial institutions. These programs can be essential tools for dentists to provide patients with, but they should only be used according to the guidelines of the financing company. The terms of each third-party plan differ, so the providing dentist needs to familiarize themselves with each option.
For example, some payment plan companies require patients to pay a monthly fee or premium. This is usually deducted from the patient’s paycheck or billed through an auto-draft system. Depending on the plan, there may be a limit on how much is paid annually (an annual cap). This can prevent providing a full range of services needed for patients.
Another standard third-party option is a health savings account (HSA). These accounts allow individuals to invest part of their income into tax-deductible funds that can be used to pay for qualified healthcare expenses. HSAs can be very useful for patients with high-deductible health insurance plans, as they can help cover copayments and deductibles.
Some dental offices also offer their own private, in-house payment plans. These can be like a membership plan that offers a fixed rate for specific procedures and discounts on other services. This type of payment plan is less structured than an insurance plan, but it can still provide a good alternative for patients who need insurance.
