It’s the busy back-to-school season! Kids are getting back to their regular routines, Halloween candy buyback programs are being announced and you’re sending out dental appointment reminders for fall recare. But in a few weeks, you’ll be disappointed that you aren’t getting the results you want. That’s because without a compelling reason to come in for an appointment, many patients will find the back-to-school and holiday season too busy to prioritize scheduling family recare appointments.
Of course you and your team know that regular recare is critical to maintaining optimum oral health and you tell this to your patients at every visit. But reality is that if they feel fine, most will push the limits and ignore the importance of recall, particularly at this time of year … which makes now the perfect time to capitalize on your patients’ desire to return to routines. Position yourself as a critical part of their routine and bring more patients through your door, maximizing your fall revenue.
Sending dental appointment reminders is a common way to inform patients it is time for recare, but they come with mixed results. Why? Because telling someone it’s recare appointment time does not explain why they should make an appointment now – and keep it. You need a compelling reason why this is the best time of the year to come in … to maximize their end-of-year insurance benefits before they run out. BINGO! Now your patients have a persuasive reason to pick up the phone and schedule their family’ recare. Providing a logical reason to come now – before unused benefits are taken away from them – gives patients a very good reason to comply with a treatment plan.
The challenge many dental insurance holders have is that they don’t understand how their coverage works or how to make the most of it. In fact, only 20% take full advantage of their dental benefits, leaving 80% of benefits holders primed for you to give them a great reason to come in to your practice before the year ends. That great reason is insurance. You already know that participating in insurance brings you more patients, and when you educate your patients about how to take advantage of what they already have, it increases your bottom line. Who doesn’t want that?
Tying an appointment reminder to an end-of-year dental benefits reminder will bring those patients into your practice. By educating your patients about their insurance benefits, and how to avoid losing them at year-end, you increase their trust in you as the caring individual you are, and you increase your business in the bargain.
Educating your patients now on how to maximize their insurance benefits gives you some great potential business boosters:
- higher level of treatment acceptance
- higher customer service satisfaction levels
- lower attrition rates
- higher current-year billings.
Using different touch points in your marketing campaign reaches your patients on the level they need to be reached. As your dental marketing partner, we can create custom articles for your print newsletters, insurance reminder inserts, e-newsletters, and reactivation campaigns while you conduct telephone blitzes to patients that are delaying, skipping, or declining treatment.
Training your team with scripts to give your patients a consistent message will further reinforce you as the expert who is dedicated to keeping them healthy while minimizing their out-of-pocket expenses.
Openings like these will get you started…
- A change of seasons means now is the perfect time to…
- According to our records…
- With careful planning, we can maximize your benefits this year and schedule your treatment into next year to use your benefits wisely…
- Don’t let your dental benefits run out and lose all the money you’ve already put into your plan.
Get creative. Brainstorming sessions with your team will uncover new ways to get the word out to your patients. Through brainstorming, you may also find that some of your team thinks promoting insurance and selling dental care is not their business. Educating your staff as well as your patients in the importance insurance plays in ensuring your patients get healthy (and stay that way), will remove this unease, ensure healthier patients, and help you meet your practice goals. This is a winning solution for everyone.
If dental appointment reminders aren’t getting you the results you want, reminding patients about insurance expiry will help. Giving them a reason to come see you now instead of waiting, explaining the details of their insurance coverage so they are less confused, make insurance easy by submitting claims for your patients… At the same time, maximize your practice goals with a comprehensive dental marketing campaign using a multi-layered approach to make you stand out as their dentist of choice.
At Patient NEWS, most of our top winning campaigns have some mention of insurance. What’s accepted, what’s covered, how it’s processed … insurance gets patients’ attention.
For free information about patient communication programs, please contact our experienced team at 888.377.2404. You’ll get live support from Monday to Friday, 8:30am – 6:00pm EST. Messages will be returned promptly, within one business day at most. Here’s to a great year end!