Is Dental Membership Software Right For You?

By Megan Lohman October 10, 2023 5 min read

Is Dental Membership Software Right For You And Your Practice?

If you’re running a dental practice, you know that insurance companies can take a big chunk out of your profits. But what if there was a way to keep more of that money in your pocket? That’s where membership plan software comes in. With membership plan software, you can offer your patients affordable membership plans that still generate 30 to 50 percent more net revenue than insured patients. 

Aside from the immediate revenue and profit that Dental Membership Plans deliver every day, week, and month of a practice’s operation, the long-term impact of an effective Dental Membership Plan is nothing short of astonishing. The long-term endgame of any practice should be to maximize a return on equity when a practice is sold or a dentist retires.

In the broader business world, it’s a known fact that subscription-based businesses can enjoy a premium 2.5 times higher than non-subscription businesses when acquirers or investors come calling.

The best Dental Membership Plan Softwares reduce the administrative burden of your staff and instead allow them to focus on the most important element of your practice – delivering quality care to your patients.

Every survey and every focus group show that above all else, patients value the quality care they receive when choosing to stay loyal to your practice. So logically, the more your staff engages with patients, the happier your patient base and the greater loyalty they will show in staying compliant with good oral health protocols – a profitable business plan, indeed! But if their time is consumed chasing claims, handling denials, keeping the schedule full, conducting patient follow-ups, and juggling a myriad of other administrative details that keep them away from interfacing with patients, your staff can’t deliver that degree of care.

Membership plans are a great way to encourage patients to get the dental care they need and improve your bottom line, but only if you have a system in place to manage them effectively. 

Dental membership plan software can help you be effective by automating many of the administrative tasks associated with these programs.

When considering whether or not to invest in membership plan software for your dental practice, you’ll want to weigh the cost of the software against the potential benefits. In most cases, the ROI of membership plan software is obvious from the beginning. 

 A high-quality Dental Membership Plan software comes fully loaded with tools and leverages technology to automate and streamline administration, which will help you scale the plan and grow members far quicker than without software. 

Dental membership plan software was created to help dental practices custom design plans for their patient base and manage these plans. We explain the benefits of dental membership plans, share the features of dental membership plan software, and show you how to think about the ROI of an investment into this type of software.

Membership plan software can make it easier to manage your dental membership program, but you’ll want to make sure that the features offered by the software fit your needs and that the investment makes financial sense for your practice.

The best Dental membership plan software will allow you to create customizable membership plans that are tailored to the needs of your practice and your patients. Here are a few categories you can customize in your membership plans:

  • Plan name
  • Plan pricing
  • Included treatments
  • Discounts
  • Age limits

Customization is key; it helps create a plan whose value really appeals to the patient, and by offering 2-4 plans, your practice can offer a plan that appeals to different segments of your patient base. Customizing price based on your practice’s fee schedule means that your plans are profitable and your staff (especially the Office Manager(s) who sell your plans to the patients) are bought in and supportive.

Most membership management solutions are equipped with an online enrollment link on the practice’s website, so your patients can conveniently sign up for a plan at any time. Patients enter personal and billing information directly from the comfort of their home/mobile phonewhich reduces their check-in time, and lowers the administrative burden on your front-office staff.

Automated Payment and Collections

Managing and tracking payments is a tedious, and time-consuming process. Without software, the Office Manager must track down patients and payments every month to ensure a high renewal rate. Dental membership plan software automates the payment process. You can store payment information in the system, and patients will be charged automatically on renewal (while also getting a 30 & 60 day reminder via text/email).

Most membership management solutions come with an auto-renewal feature and automated renewal reminders. The auto-renewal feature helps retain your members and keep them on a 12-month revenue cycle without lulls between subscription start and end dates, with many months of lost revenue in between.  

Giving this time back to your Office Manager while also growing your revenue is a key benefit of using membership plan software. By integrating payment processing and automatic renewals, you can free up your people to provide quality dental treatment and efficient service while the membership platform takes care of the rest. This next-level automation can help reduce administrative burdens, making your dental practice more efficient and profitable in the long run.

Dashboard & Reporting

Dental membership plan software includes a dashboard where you can track members, revenue, and payments. Also, some solutions allow you to conduct many administrative tasks like enrolling new patients and sending membership invites through text and email.

Customer Support Team

Because membership plan software vendors often charge practices per member, these vendors have a vested interest in your success. Plan Forward has a dedicated customer support team that helps you attract new patients and plan members. They use algorithms to help you determine the optimal price for your plans, they train your staff, they provide all the collateral and scripts to market the plans (in the office and on the website) and they actively monitor your practice’s performance to help you realize your practice’s full potential.

Growth Support 

Plan Forward also provides custom marketing materials to help you advertise your membership plan to new patients and existing patients during open enrollment periods. The Plan Forward team has been in your shoes and knows what it takes to create a plan that’s profitable for your practice and creates value for your patients. It starts with a comprehensive pricing analysis and provides you and your teams with the SUPPORT you need from marketing materials, to training and our best practices. And with a dedicated client success manager you’ll get answers when you need them and helpful suggestions to grow.

Measuring your Plan Success

Once you’ve launched your plan, how do you know it’s doing well?  Just because patients are signed up on the plan doesn’t necessarily mean it’s doing for your business what you intended.  You’ll want to revisit the numbers on a yearly basis.  With the Plan Forward reports, along with how we’ll help you set up your practice management system, it will allow you to easily pull numbers to analyze the success of the plan.  Things like top line membership revenue, preventive care membership write-offs, membership treatment acceptance, and the cost of managing the plan are all reports you’ll want to pull to evaluate your plan and see how you’re doing.

If you are looking for a way to increase your membership and revenue, membership plan software may be the right solution for your dental practice. These types of solutions are designed to help streamline membership management tasks and reduce the administrative burden on your staff. With features like an auto-renewal feature, automated reminders, and a dashboard that tracks memberships and payments, membership plan software can help you better manage and retain your membership base. So if you’re looking for ways to grow your practice’s membership and boost your bottom line, consider investing in membership plan software today.

Is Dental Membership Plan Software Worth It?

Dental membership plan software will generate more revenue for your practice and save your team time. However, it is aninvestment. When deciding whether or not to purchase dental plan membership software, it’s important to calculate an estimated return on investment (ROI) to determine if it’s a worthwhile purchase.

There are a number of membership plan software providers on the market, so it’s important to do your research and choose the right one for your needs. Consider factors like price, features, customer support, and reviews when making your decision.

Ready to take your dental practice to the next level? Schedule a call with our team to see if using a membership plan software would help you start or grow a membership plan.

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