Offering affordable dental care is challenging when your services, tools, and equipment cost so much. Many patients don’t have dental care plans, so they must pay for all appointments out-of-pocket. When you offer in-house dental financing to patients, they can enjoy more flexible and accessible payment plans that improve their experience and increase your practice’s patient flow. 

At Dental Intelligence, we provide a full suite of dental software tools to improve your organization's operations. Dental Intelligence's dental patient financing allows you to simplify the payment process, boost treatment acceptance rates, offer flexible payment plans, and receive funds, no matter what. Below, we discuss everything you need to know about in-house financing for your dental practice. 

In-House Dental Financing Benefits for Your Patients and Practice

In-house dental financing improves the patient experience, which benefits your business. Discover the benefits below. 

Patient Benefits

Medical bills threaten the overall health of many Americans who cannot afford to pay the premiums for top-tier insurance plans. Up to 44%¹ of patients chose to skip medical care because they couldn’t afford it in 2018. Offering in-house dental financing allows your patients to enjoy the following benefits:

• Accessible and affordable dental care
• Easy approval and acceptance processes
• Low-interest rate offers
• Lower initial appointment costs
• Easier-to-manage out-of-pocket expenses 

Practice Benefits

Receiving funds for the services you provide is more challenging than it seems. Offering financing lets your business enjoy the following benefits:

• Reduced debt
• Consistent cash flow
• Improved patient reviews and recommendations
• Increased patient scheduling and new patient appointments

When Can You Offer Dental Financing?

Many assume financing is exclusive to ultra-expensive purchases, like homes and cars. You can offer financing on all of your services, regardless of the price. You’ll find that many retailers offer financing for products as low as $10 to make the payments more enticing to the consumer. 

Professional teeth cleanings and preventative care appointments are some of the most common financing services you can offer. Breaking up the cost of cleanings can encourage more patients to consider scheduling their regular appointments. 

Dental financing may be most beneficial for your expensive services that the average person cannot pay out of pocket for. For example, braces can cost as much as $10,000, which isn’t much different from an auto loan. Dental emergencies, like chipped teeth, can cost the patient $5,000. 

If you don’t offer financing for such expensive services, patients must receive their own loan or look elsewhere. 

Types of In-House Dental Financing Plans

In-house financing specifically refers to plans that don’t involve banking institutions. Rather than requiring the patient to apply with their bank or credit union, you can offer the financing directly from your office. The two main types of in-house dental financing plans include traditional and hybrid. 

Traditional Financing

Traditional financing means your practice runs the entire process without help from any third-party organization. You create the application criteria, any associated paperwork, and the payment schedule. You can offer individualized payment plans for each patient’s needs or practice-wide offers like 6-, 12-, and 18-month plans. 

Traditional financing may seem like the simplest option, but it has more risks. First, you must review the patient’s financial stability without help from financing professionals. Many practices skip this step, which only increases risks. 

If patients do not fulfill their end of the deal, you won’t receive funds for your services. Unlike a traditional loan, you won’t have another lender providing payments. 

Hybrid Financing

Hybrid financing allows your practice to work with a third-party platform that handles the payment scheduling, collection, and application processes for you. Typically, the system includes its own application process that may check the patient’s credit score to determine their interest rate and viability. The application will also include various legal paperwork that protects your practice’s financial best interests. 

With hybrid models, you can earn interest on patient installments, and you won’t have to deal with contacting people each time they owe dues. The system can handle payment collection for you. 

The biggest benefit of hybrid models is payment protection. If patients default on their financing, you will still receive your funds.

Improve Your Patient Experience with Dental Intelligence’s Financing

If you want to improve your patient experience and business cash flow with in-house dental financing, consider our hybrid model from Dental Intelligence. Your patients can qualify with a low credit score for dental financing to receive any service they need. Request a demo from our Dental Intelligence team today to see how our financing platform works. 

References

¹ NORC Survery

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