How to Get Your Patients to Use Dental Benefits

For many, a new year brings new opportunities to better ourselves. In the dental world, a new year means that patients’ dental benefits reset. As 2020 comes to an end, many dental practices are faced with the dilemma of getting their patients to accept and complete their dental treatments. Below are a few Digital Doc tips for how to get your patients to use dental benefits before they expire on January 1st. 

Flexible Spending Accounts

This is an account that you can create through your employer. You can choose the number of funds you will put into the account, which will then be deducted from every one of your paychecks, pre-tax. These accounts cover dental products or services such as dentures, teeth cleaning, and braces. These days, dentists use non-invasive equipment such as the best dental cameras to carry out their checkups.

To encourage your patient to complete any pending treatment they may have, remind them that they can utilize their FSA benefits pay for their treatments, along with their dental insurance benefits. Make them aware that if they don’t use their dental benefits, they will lose them. 

Educate Your Patients

Your patients need to be educated on the importance of not delaying treatment and the consequences that come with doing so. Your dental team should therefore be trained on how to do this. If you’ve had a cavity or a toothache before, you know that they never get better on their own, only worse. You should encourage your patients to complete their treatment as soon as they possibly can. This will help avoid more extensive, expensive, and painful treatment if you utilize the best dental technology, such as a handheld dental x-ray and a transilluminator, to locate the affected areas and treat you in no time.

When a patient is being escorted to the check-out area, the front desk should be aware of each patient’s treatment plan and their remaining yearly maximum and their benefits details. The patient should then be informed on this while explaining what would happen if one fails to use their benefits. Additionally, they should also be informed of what can happen if dental treatment is delayed. You should always try to schedule their next dental appointment before they leave.

Promote Same-day Treatments

Talk to patients who haven’t used up their dental benefits but are in the dentist’s office for a scheduled visit. Encourage them to stay by informing them that if they undergo treatments now. This will save them an additional visit to the dentist. 

Patients who have met their yearly deductible but still have more treatments to undergo, inform them that this deductible will be applied to next year’s treatment as it will reset along with their benefits.

Dental Insurance

If you would prefer not to call up your patients like a telemarketer, send them a newsletter. The newsletter should contain details about the patient’s dental insurance and non-invasive equipment, such as the best intraoral camera or handheld Xray, used in diagnosis and treatment. This will allow you to target your patient base on a large scale while also educating them on the benefits of completing treatment. You can also encourage them to use their dental benefits before they expire through this medium.

It may sound like something everyone should know, but most patients don’t know anything that concerns their dental benefits. Therefore, it is up to dental practices to inform them that they should use them before their expiry.