Welcome Back to The Dish, Practice Cafe’s Newsletter!
This is The Dish, your weekly digest providing actionable insights on how to maximize your dental marketing dollars. Each week, we send out short and sweet treats to help you navigate the obstacles our clients are facing in real-time.
Here’s Your Weekly Slice: The Case for Dental Membership Plans
Every practice needs profitable patients. The pressures of inflation and insurance companies are creating a need for dentists to explore creative ways of driving profitability. If you’re feeling these pressures and looking for avenues of driving profitable patient flow, here’s our case for the dental membership plan.
Unit Economics of Cash Patients vs. Insurance
Cash patients are among the most profitable for a dental practice (nothing new here). The more your incremental growth is focused on cash patients, the stronger your financial position tends to look. Much easier said than done to grow this segment. But if 5% of your active insurance patients are ready to ditch insurance and just need a soft landing, that’s an impact you’ll feel on your financial statements.
Insurance Reimbursement Rates
If you haven’t already, chart out your cost to service an average patient in 2019 vs. 2024. Have your reimbursement rates increased by that same amount? If reimbursements aren’t keeping up, you’re likely trending less profitable on a per-patient basis.
Recurring Revenue
Who doesn’t love recurring revenue? With enough recurring revenue, a location can withstand a lower than average production month and maintain some consistency with their financial picture (compared to having zero recurring revenue). Conversely, recurring revenue makes those record-breaking months that much more record-breaking.
Need More Help?
If you’d like recommendations on professionals that can help you get started with a dental membership plan, let us connect you with the best!
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