Dental Office Management

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Third-Party Financing
Offering third-party financing is a smart option to help keep accounts receivable low and keeps the office in the business of providing dentistry instead of banking services. Many patients do not have the available funds to pay for dentistry, which is frequently an unexpected financial expense. According to Levin (2001), “77 percent of Americans cannot write a check for more than $500 out of their monthly cash flow. The typical consumer has less than $400 available on consumer credit cards” (p.117). These patients will be more willing to accept a comprehensive treatment plan if a payment option is available. It will boost case acceptance. Third-party financing offers advantages to the patient such as instant approval, up to one year without interest, and extended terms at low-interest for the patient that requires more time to pay, affordable payments, and flexible terms. Acting as a credit company for patients has a negative impact on patient relations, is costly to profit margin, and wastes valuable time on a task that is very unpleasant (Levin, 2001). The office will have to pay a minor fee to the finance company, but the advantages of reducing billing work, gaining customer satisfaction and receiving the payment up-front makes it worth it. The most recognized third-party financing companies for dentistry are CareCredit, Springstone, Springleaf and Allwell.
CareCredit is the most utilized third-party financing company used by dental offices. After analyzing a targeted 2 year period prior to introducing the CareCredit program versus the two year period after implementation the studies found that practices increased their gross annual production by 25.3% compared to a practice not enrolled in a...

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