I Bet You Haven’t Thought of This to Reduce Cancellations
I was in an office recently and they wanted to test the waters with having patients pre-pay before their appointment date. This is something that they had a lot of anxiety around because they weren’t sure how patients would respond to this change.
The first thing I recommend when an office wants to make this change is:
Spend some time examining their fears around it.
Most of the time if the patients aren’t responding well to this change, it has more to do with how it’s being presented or the underlying fears that the team member may have about this new change more than the policy itself.
A few tips that will allow you to test the waters with pre-paying in your practice:
When you’re presenting the full fee or the treatment fee for the next appointment to say:
“Your next visit will be x number of dollars and you can pay for that today if you like.”
Pause.
You’ll be surprised at how many patients just proceed to pay for their next treatment.
Some patients may ask:
“Do I have to pay all of that today?”
You can respond, “Would it help if you paid ½ today and then ½ at your appointment?”
You’ll be surprised at how many patients are ok with pre-paying or even expect it to be in place in a dental practice.
I had an office last week try this very system and they were blown away at how many patients pre-paid for their treatment. In fact, out of a full day of presenting treatment, every patient except for one paid either in full or a partial payment toward their next service.
This has so many benefits for a dental practice and actually for the patient as well. There aren’t very many patients that cancel their appointments when they’ve pre-paid for the service, so you know they’re fully committed.
The other benefit is the patient doesn’t have to stop at the front desk after they’re visit when they’re numb. They can just leave because they’re finished and they’ve paid for that visit. It’s really a win-win for the practice and for the patient.