Dr. Chris Phelps was at a crossroads. He spent his career establishing and building high-producing dental practices, yet now he found himself in an unfamiliar position with a seemingly all-too-familiar problem. He had sold his two highest-producing, lowest-debt practices and earned quite a chunk of change. That left him with his two lowest-producing, highest-debt practices … one of which owed $75,000 and only collected $35,000 each month.
they can experience deeper, more painful, and more expensive issues. It’s a vicious cycle that continues to create more debt and pain for patients. “Dr. Phelps raked in $1,460,274 in additional revenue, and his two practices saw two years of 40% growth.” In response, Dr. Phelps devised a solution. He created a Dental Health Benefits Savings Plan at his practice. He sold the plan for about half of what he estimated it would cost for individuals to purchase their own dental insurance. Although not insurance, his plan offered similar options for care as an insurance plan … but with a few extra perks. These included two cleanings, two exams, digital X-rays, and two fluoride desensitizing treatments each year. Two other perks for members were 15% off minor treatments and 10% off major needs. The plan could save retirees hundreds of dollars each year, while providing the preventive treatment they deserve and need. Editor’s note: On Planet Gems, we recommend our members who are offering a DHBSP NOT offer a blanket percentage off care. Rather, we recommend you create a short list of services for which you reduce the fee by a specific dollar amount. E.g., $100 off each crown, implant, and veneer is still very well received by patients, yet ends up being
significantly less than the dollars you’d lose to a blanket percentage. Furthermore, your menu or list of covered services won’t cover every service you offer (again, saving you from giving away the practice when it’s simply not necessary). Ask your Personal Gems Concierge to help you create your own Dental Health Benefits Savings Plan tri-fold brochures and member cards. Gems Graphics folks will do all the layout and design. You simply tell us what you want to include/write. You can SWIPE ideas from many of the plans we’ve already created for our members. (It’s that easy!) Go to www.InsidersCircle.com SITE MAP ADVANCED MARKETING BRAIN TRUST 012 DENTAL BENEFITS IN-OFFICE PLAN
Dr. Phelps needed to find a solution … and he needed to find it FAST.
He knew the answer was to ramp up new patient flow, and acquiring fee-for-service new patients would be the best way to go. But Dr. Phelps realized there were two issues with this strategy.
BROCHURE
2. ‘YEAH, RIGHT’
1.
‘IT COSTS TOO MUCH.’
Dr. Phelps figured he could offer a plan and retirees would come flocking. His chairs would fill up with fee-for-service patients, and, as a result, his drowning practices would find new life.
A high percentage of the remaining fee-for- service patients are older adults — retirees who no longer have dental insurance. Their out-of-pocket costs to see the Dentist can be significant. No one can justify spending thousands of dollars they simply don’t have. According to Dr. Phelps’ estimations, the cost of acquiring individual dental insurance for patients ages 55 or older in his region was over $600 each year. Not many retirees can justify this cost.
He was wrong.
Instead, Dr. Phelps discovered that many people — especially those in the Baby Boomer generation — were skeptical of plans like the one he was offering. They were looking for a catch, and very few of them believed Dr. Phelps when he said there wasn’t one. He
On the flip side, we know that when patients don’t invest in routine preventive treatment,
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