In this week’s Thriving Dentist Show, Gary Takacs will share all of the details behind the concept of using an in-office membership plan to attract new patients who do not have insurance.
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A lot of practices that are still involved in PPO plans are worried that if they leave the network, they will not be able to get patients.
Gary shares many insightful tips and guidelines to help our listeners learn how to get rid of this negative mindset and to learn how to attract more fee-for-service patients while still retaining existing patients.
In 2007, Life Smiles was one of the pioneers to have membership plans, and a membership plan is one of the 7-steps to successfully come out of a PPO plan and be less insurance dependent.
In this episode, I will share in-depth on
- How important is a membership plan to a dental practice?
- Guidelines and tips for you to create an ideal membership plan for your practice.
- The types of patient categories you can target for a membership plan and how you can get them to sign up?
If you can follow the guidelines and tips shared in this episode, and set up the ideal plan for your dental practice, it will perform like a superhighway to bring more patients to your practice, and you will not have to give away 40% of every dollar you make like you will in a PPO plan.
Listen to the episode now and create the ideal membership plan for your practice and build a pathway for more fee-for-service patients.
This episode will help you knock down the PPO plans like the first card in a domino when you are trying to move in the right direction to achieve a thriving dental practice by being less insurance dependent.
Do you have a question you would like Gary to answer in the next episode’s Q&A Segment? Ask Gary now!
- 00:26 – Introduction to the episode
- 00:50 – Announcement 1 – webinar ADCPA president
- 02:59 – Advantage Of free-for service
- 03:49 – How can you get more free-for service patients?
- 04:06 – What is an Office membership plan similar to?
- 05:39 – What is an Office Membership Plan?
- 06:20 – How LifeSmiles implemented a membership plan?
- 07:03 – Why shouldn’t you call a membership plan an insurance plan?
- 07:48 – Gary’s recommended practice discount plan for members?
- 09:11 – How to offer savings to members of your membership plan?
- 09:21 – Research by Gary in the most attractive discount plan for practice members?
- 10:15 – How are you still doing better than a PPO plan after giving members a discount?
- 10:37 – What are the 2 questions patients without insurance won’t ask?
- 10:58 – What is the wonderful incentive for members to accept and how is it a wonderful incentive compared to insurance plans?
- 12:44 – Why does Gary say “NO” to fine print of services excluded in membership discount plans?
- 13:20 – How providing a discount to a patient member might turn him into a champion and he will bring you more patients?
- 14:20 – Example of how a membership plan attracts patients with no insurance?
- 15:25 – Example of Why having fine print is bad for your membership plan
- 16:57 – Why is dental insurance a poor investment for the employer?
- 18:24 – Why will patients with your membership plans will always choose you?
- 20:09 – Another advantage of having a patient membership plan
- 20:54 – What problem does a membership plan solve in your practice?
- 21:43 – Professor Wharton research finding on younger generation.
- 22:37 – 3 categories of patients you can target with no insurance
- 24:35 – Question 1 – What is the best way to market my Membership Plan to my community?
- 33:02 – Question 2 – I currently have a Membership plan but the discount we are currently offering is 20%. I want to change it to your recommendation of 10%. How can I do that without upsetting the patients we currently have on our Plan. We only have a small number of patients on our plan now, but I don’t want to upset them.
- 35:48 – Question 3 – One of my colleagues has a Membership Plan in his office and he shared how he set his plan up. It is somewhat complicated with a ‘Healthy Patient Plan, a Perio Patient Plan and a Restorative Plan’. What are your thoughts about a more sophisticated Plan like this?
- 38:52 – Question 4 – I really like your concepts about an In-Office Membership Plan! If we offer a lower fee for additional Family Members, should we limit that to immediate Family Members under the same roof?
RESOURCES
Gary Takacs
Gary became a successful practice owner by purchasing a fixer-upper practice and developing it into a world-class dental practice. He is passionate about sharing his hard-earned insights and experiences with dental practices across the globe. As a dental practice coach, Gary provides guidance for dental professionals on how to create a healthier practice style that lets them deliver excellent patient care while reducing depending on insurance.
More importantly, Gary’s insights are not just based on theory – as a co-owner of a dental practice, he has first-hand experience in making this transformation from a high-volume and low-fee insurance model to a fee-for-service approach that is more sustainable and promotes a patient-centric and financially healthy dental practice, and he is dedicated to sharing this knowledge with other dental practitioners via the popular Thriving Dentist Show!