Improving Outcomes for Treatment Not Covered by Insurance

This is an encore presentation of one of my most popular video tips. It highlights how your practice values can impact the success of case acceptance for procedures not covered by insurance. I hope you enjoy this valuable tip.

Is your belief system concerning treatment recommendations for procedures that are not covered by insurance impacting your case acceptance? Recently, I visited an office who said they believe that fluoride is beneficial for adults as well as children. Yet, their case acceptance for adult fluoride was almost non-existent. In researching reasons why this was so, I found that they had one of the highest periodontal percentages I'd ever seen. As you know, much like fluoride, many of these treatments are not covered by insurance.

I discovered that it wasn't the lack of insurance coverage that was preventing patients from accepting fluoride treatment, rather it was the way the team was communicating their belief system around fluoride. This practice's team was especially passionate about periodontal disease and how important proper treatment is for their patients. This passion allowed them to get past a lot of the objections that often come up when patients have to pay out-of-pocket.

By changing their mindset about fluoride, their fluoride case acceptance went through the roof! Instead of just telling patients the basics: "fluoride is something we recommend, but it isn't covered by insurance," they put their belief behind what they were saying. They began emphasizing the importance of fluoride and taking the time to explain why it is important. By communicating from a place of deep belief, this practice took an area that wasn't working for them and turned it into an area of huge success!

I recommend that you take a look at your practice and see if there are any treatments that you say you believe in but you’re not getting good case acceptance. If you find a few, I challenge you to reexamine your mindset about presenting those areas to your patients. Share your story with us in the comments section below. If you would like help improving your treatment presentation and case acceptance, please contact me at solutions@kristinpelletier.com for a complimentary consultation.