Below is a letter from a doctor that implemented the Patient Payment Plan™ and his thoughts on its affects to his practice.
Norman G. Becker, Jr., D. D. S.
Practice Limited to Periodontics
Dear Colleague,
We all face the dilemma of how to collect our fees from patients while still providing the professional care they seek. This leaves us with two financial decisions: 1) limit the credit risk by requiring the patient to pay in full at the timeof service, or 2) offer in-house payment arrangements and hope the patienthonors the payment terms. The first decision limits your income as business is turned away, and the second increases your administrative costs and headaches.
Nine months ago a representative of the Patient Payment Plan™ (PPP) approached me with a unique solution to the traditional payment dilemma. The solution was to set up my patients on affordable monthly payments and collect whose payments using automatic bank deductions from their checking accounts. I liked the idea but was skeptical at first thinking patients would never agree to such arrangements. Much to my surprise, I now have 22 patients on automatic deductions and I am very pleased with the results. My office has realized benefits too numerous to list, but I would like to share these:
- I am now more WILLING to extend credit to my patients because I am certain that PPP will collect my fees. In fact, my collection rate with this service is almost 98%. And since I am willing to extend credit, I expect my revenue to increase by almost $50,000 this year as I can collect from patients I might have turned away before.
- The service helps me filter out those patients who would have otherwise been payment problems. Some patients will not agree to an automatic deduction program and will instead opt to pay in full.
- Since my staff no longer has to deal with internal payment arrangements, they can concentrate on patient care and other important operating aspectsof my practice. In essence, I’m finally out of the banking business.
The banking technology PPP uses has been around for many years and has been successfully used by insurance companies to collect monthly premiums. Now you can benefit from it. It has made a believer out of me, and I urge you to fully investigate this valuable practice tool.
Sincerely,
Dr. Norman “Bill” Becker, Jr.