Let’s face it, dental care can be expensive. Left untreated, small issues can become costly problems, so it’s important to help your patients afford their care sooner rather than later. As you prioritize patient care and offer several ways for your patients to afford the treatment they need, we’re here with some tools available in Open Dental to make financial management easier on your staff. We’ll be discussing three tools: In-house membership or discount plans, Payment Plans, and the new, integrated option for financing with the CareCredit credit card.
Financing Options
In-House Membership or Discount Plans
Your practice may offer an in-house membership or discount plan for uninsured patients. You can set this up in Open Dental with its own associated fee schedule and adjustment, so the patient always gets the proper discounted rate according to the plan they’re on, and your office is able to set up any maximum discounts as well.
Learn more about Discount Plans in our manual, or watch this webinar on setting up and managing discount plans.
Payment Plans
If your office wants to handle the “loan” to the patient, Payment Plans are a great fit. Open Dental has two different types of Payment Plans for patients.
(Regular) Payment Plan
If your patient has a large balance they will be paying off over time, you can use a (regular) Payment Plan.
See Payment Plan in our online manual.
Dynamic Payment Plan
If you want to offer ongoing financing to your patient as they continue to receive care, the Dynamic Payment Plan offers that flexibility. Both completed and treatment-planned procedures can be added to a Dynamic Payment Plan, but you will need to decide if Treatment Planned Procedures you’ve selected need to wait until being set complete to be added to the Payment Plan, or if they will be treated as complete and added to the Payment Plan immediately.
See Dynamic Payment Plans in our online manual.
Both types of Payment Plans are covered in this webinar:
Financing with the CareCredit credit card
For more than 30 years, CareCredit has helped millions of people by offering special financing options with convenient monthly payments. CareCredit is accepted at more than 250,000 locations for a wide variety of health and wellness procedures, treatments, products, and services. CareCredit’s integration into Open Dental helps give patients another great financing option so they can move forward with recommended treatment without delay. Plus, with CareCredit you get paid in two business days, with no recourse if the cardholder delays payment or defaults*, helping to reduce your accounts receivables. And with CareCredit integrated right into Open Dental, your practice staff can quickly identify which patients are pre-approved or already have a CareCredit credit card, even before they visit your office. Take a look at this video for more on the integration and how it can help your patients, and your staff.
*Subject to the representations and warranties in the CareCredit Agreement with Participating Providers, including but not limited to only charging for services that have been completed or that will be completed within 30 days of the initial charge, always obtaining the patient’s signature on in-office applications and the cardholders’ signature on the printed receipt.
Our team is always here to help you use Open Dental in the best way possible as you care for your patients. Please reach out if we can help.
Categories: Compatible Services, Growing Your Practice, Patient Retention, Your Software