Boosting Dental Case Acceptance Rates (E.125)

“We’ve got to stop thinking about ‘patients’ and ‘case acceptance,’ and start thinking about ‘human beings.’” ~Dr. Victoria Peterson

In a world where inflation is rising and consumers are tightening their belts, dental practices are feeling the pinch when it comes to case acceptance rates. If you’re a dentist struggling to navigate these financial waters, this episode of the Investment Grade Practices Podcast is a must-listen.

Join Dr. Victoria Peterson as she sits down with Marla Merritt from AcceptCare, a leader in patient finance solutions. Together, they explore innovative strategies that can help your patients say “yes” to care, even in challenging economic times. Marla shares a deeply personal story that underscores the importance of offering flexible financial options, and discusses how the “gauntlet of no” in patient financing can be transformed into a pathway of possibilities.

Discover how to empower your team with the tools they need to provide certainty and clarity to patients, ensuring that no one walks away from necessary care due to financial constraints. Whether you’re looking to boost case acceptance or simply offer better financial solutions to your patients, this episode is packed with actionable insights that can make a real difference in your practice.

As you listen to this episode, we want you to think about the following questions:

• Am I providing my patients with enough financial options?
• Is my team equipped to communicate these options confidently?
• How can I improve my patients’ decision-making process?

Episode Transcript

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Marla: We’re finding when you present it side by side, the patient’s just choosing what’s my lowest monthly payment.

Victoria: As inflation rises and consumers remain cautious about spending. I’m wondering, are you struggling to find some breakthroughs in case acceptance, right? Hello, I’m Victoria Peterson, your host for Investment Grade Practice and I have scoured the industry for one of the experts on this topic of patient finance. Please help me welcome Marla Merritt from AcceptCare OrthoPHY. Hi, Marla.

Marla: Hey there, Victoria. Thank you so much for having me on today.

Victoria: I didn’t have to scour very far cause you and I are great friends and it’s always So much fun when I get to have some of my industry friends come on the show and talk about real-life issues, you know, things that are facing practices every single day. So today I want to touch on some of these aspects of the economy softening. Now I hear. Other words being described, but I don’t see it falling off a cliff. I see the media overhyping different things. I did notice the stock market rocking, you know, all of those things. Political years always bring a little bit of uncertainty with consumers, but there are strategic things you can do to help patients overcome those hurdles and still say yes to care and patient finance is one of those and I want to dive deep in that with you today if that’s okay.

Marla: Sure, would love it.

Victoria: First of all, how did you get interested in helping patients understand their options?

Marla: So, you know, this is a topic that’s actually very sensitive to me because I had an experience, um, with limited financial options that actually greatly affected my daughter’s care. Um, you see as a single mom with four, four young daughters, I was presented with the reality that my third daughter needed surgery. She needed surgery to correct her bite. She needed braces to correct the alignment of her teeth and she would also need two implants because she was congenitally missing a couple of teeth.

Victoria: How old was she?

Marla: So when this treatment, when all of this was presented to me, she was about 12.

Victoria: Oh, my goodness.

Marla: Yeah. So I knew, I knew as a mom. Yeah, it was it was a very, um, you know, sobering conversation but the way that it was presented to me, um, I was told about the first step, which they they this orthodontist that was presenting it to me said the first thing was surgery and insurance probably wouldn’t cover any of it and the cost would be close to 20, 000 and then he just said, sent me home to think about it. He said, if you want a name of a surgeon, but you know, there was never a conversation about, you know, they, they’ll help to make it affordable to you. There were never any options presented and I can’t tell you how defeated and deflated I felt that day as a mom worried about my daughter and, you know, Victoria, she actually never had that surgery and I can’t tell you how often I’ve thought, you know, now she’s. 24 years old, and I’ve thought how different if options would have been presented to me when she was younger, how different course of her treatment would have turned out because she was never able to have that surgery.

Victoria: How did that impact her?

Marla: That, well, you know, um, I remember, you know, there’s this thing that always, drives me crazy about bedside manner, but I remember the orthodontist asked, are you happy with your smile? And her answer was yes and then he proceeded to point out everything that was wrong with her smile and I just, um, first of all, the bedside manner could have been a little better, but she, you know, at the time she didn’t really think much about it but as she’s grown, she realizes her smile isn’t perfect, but you know, it just over time, I know she wishes she could have done that and I work for OrthoPHY and we have a solution called Accept Care and that is why I’m so passionate because, you know, I think about how different it would have been if a tablet would have been given to me.  That says, “You know, we have lots of options. You can pay in full and if you do pay in full, you get a discount, or maybe you need six months to pay, or maybe you need to look at some third party options and here’s a network of lenders that could discuss that or give you some offers.” So had that, had there been a different way to even just present options at the time, my, the course of her treatment would have been so different.

Victoria: Well, and that’s the story for so many people. You know, I think, um, as providers, we’ve got to stop thinking about patients and case acceptance and start thinking about human beings and this is their life. This is their life, this is their health. and, you know, your daughters, uh, could have had a different health outcome. You know, and at some point you’ll probably still need to go through some of the treatment. Well, oh my gosh, you know, you’ve taught me this phrase and it stops me in my tracks every time and for you, uh, you taught me the phrase, the gauntlet of no and the, in your story with your daughter, that no was in the first sentence. It’s 20, 000 go home and think about it and you’re like, “Nope, I’m a single mom with four kids.” But, you know, even those that do try to find options, it’s like, would you like to pay all of that upfront and get a 5 percent discount? No. “Would you like to break it a third, a third, a third?” And you’re like, well, gosh, I still don’t have, you know, seven grand pop to do that. So, you know, would you like to pay 24 percent interest? Uh, no and that’s exactly how we like it. It’s archaic and it came about, I remember being an office manager and when third-party financing came in, it was a godsend because I remember faxing information to TransUnion and Equifax and getting credit scores and looking at a table and trying to help my doctor understand, should we extend credit or not and so there was no way to really automate or make it systematic or, or do truth in lending. So I’m very grateful to the banks and the lenders that have come into dentistry, but it also in a way Disempowered teams from offering multiple choices, we really got down to a singular choice. And either that had to work or not work. So talk to us about this gauntlet of no and and how you I mean, it’s hell. Let’s just say it. It’s hell for the patients. How do we help get out of that and even the playing field so people can make great choices?

Marla: Right. So like in the scenario you just described, you were educated enough to know, well, let’s look at the credit report and see which option might work for them. That rarely happens in the typical practice today.

Victoria: I had an accounting background before I became a hygienist. That’s the only reason I knew.

Marla: So you need to look into that a little bit but what happens in most practices today is they have, you know, they may have lender number one and lender number two that they have brochures for, but when they’re looking at that patient they don’t know what they’re going to qualify for. So it becomes a, “Well why don’t you just take them both and you can maybe take them home,” and you’re still setting that patient up for another no and so, um, you know, that’s why a multi-lender network where it’s sent out and Lenders can actually bid for the patient’s business like, “Okay, this is where the patient’s credit score falls,” and then let them bring back an offer, rather than the patient, you know, applying at multiple places and getting a no before they get in a yes. So that’s, you know, the first thing that we think is super important in eliminating some of that. Now, um, another thing that, you know, is always controversial in the dental industry is, is we feel very strongly, you know, there are going to be some patients who are not creditworthy. They’re not going to, um, get, receive an offer from a third-party lender, but they may very well be payment worthy. So. If you can bring them an offer that, that works within their budget, their monthly budget, really, it’s really about their monthly budget, then you can still help that patient move forward treatment and so in included with our multi-lender network, we also have an option that’s more of an in house option, and it will allow the doctor to number one, choose what the minimum down payment is for that and then also, um, you know, allow them to, uh, collect interest on those accounts. So it’s kind of the interest is offsetting the risk. So, so what we’ve talked about are a whole lot of options. You know, we’ve got paying full, we’ve got a short-term payment plan, we’ve got third-party options, we’ve got an in-house option that acts as a backstop, and all of those are great, but if your teams haven’t yet pull different ones out at different times and figure out which one’s going to work for this particular patient, it’s still not a complete solution, even if you have all those solutions at your fingertips. So that’s really has been our goal with except cares to bring that all together in just one seamless platform.

Victoria: I want to slow this down a little bit because you’ve made some incredible points that I want to draw out here. Number one, having an analog sort of paper brochure and sending the patient home to think about it or having the team say, “I could pull this from here or this from, you know, would you like our membership plan or would you like this or would you like that?” It, those two strategies put undue mental stress on an already overloaded team, and so doctors, here’s what you’re going to hear. I don’t know what happened, “I told her we had options and they said they would think about it and call me back and that’s where the conversations end,” and then it gets Into dental mythology of the patient has low dental IQ and they just don’t value their dentistry and all of these stories we tell ourselves, um, I can remember doing research for the A, C, D. I mean, decades ago, and it still holds true. There’s only one emotion where patients say yes. And your team has to embody this emotion first, and that emotion is certainty. So if I’m a busy treatment coordinator, or assistant, or administrator, and I’ve got 10 things happening at once, and I’m not sure if they’re creditworthy or not, if they even know what’s going on, you know, all of that. I’m going into an uncertain conversation. I’m going to hesitate and then I’m going to get down this slippery slope. So, and then sending patients home into the anxiety of their personal life to try to make a medical decision by themselves does not decrease anxiety. It does not increase certainty. So tell me what a multi, tell me that name again, multi. Plan

Marla: Multi-network lender,

Victoria: Multi-network lender. That is brand new and I’m going to say anything that’s less than, you know, 15 years old is brand new in dentistry. So what is a multi-lender network? What is that?

Marla: So, the multi-lender network, um, we have brought together different lenders, um, some from the industry that are, you know, well known in the industry and a few from outside of the industry to bring in. Offers that, you know, we’ll, we’ll touch in all the credit tiers. So that’s important. You know, it’s important that you have something that for those. those patients who are going to have a lower credit score and those that are going to have a higher credit score that may include zero percent interest but may not.  You know, um, one of the cool things we’re learning when multiple offers are brought back is that when a patient is faced with a zero percent offer versus one that’s bearing interest but the interest-bearing loan is a lower monthly payment, they’re choosing that all day long and, so yeah, and so what that means to the, to the doctor, you know, if, if any of the doctors listening have used third party lenders in the past, they know that there’s a fee that the doctors pay the fee that the doctors pay is higher when the patient is you is choosing a 0%. It’s that’s just, you know, across the board. It’s, it’s usually higher when the patient is selecting a 0%. Yeah, but again, we’re finding when presented side by side, the patient’s just choosing what’s my lowest monthly payment and that’s keeping the doctor money without taking the choice out of the patient’s hand.

Victoria: And do you think that’s the difference? Is that it’s not a yes or no. Can I afford it or not afford it? It’s how do I want to fit this in my life?

Marla: That’s right. That’s right because, you know, another thing, you know, on our platform, there is the third party network, but there’s also an option of just, you know, if you can’t, let’s say treatment’s 5, 000 and you can’t afford 5, 000 today, you would be surprised at the patient sitting in front of you that can say, “I can’t pay 5, 000 today, but I can pay 1, 000 a month for five months,” and we make it really easy for them to select that offer because it’s presented right there and again, there’s not any third party fee that the doctor’s paying if they select that, and we’re setting that up for autodraft, and you’ll be, you’d be surprised. Those are the patients, typically, who, who really are more likely to afford treatment. They don’t really want to get into that third-party option. They just do that.

Victoria: Like I could probably pay 5, 000, but if you’re going to let me pay a thousand a month for five months, I’ll leave my money in the bank and you know.

Marla: Right and it’s going to make it much easier for you to say, yes, if. You’ve got those five months to pay and again, you know, the doctor, these need to be within the confines of what the doctor is willing to do, but always with that lens of helping the patient and increasing that case acceptance because, you know, we’re seeing jumps in case acceptance of 15 to 20 percent more that’s happening through this platform.

Victoria: So if I’m, let’s say in a typical week, I have 20, 000 accepted. I may add another 000 to that. I mean, that adds up.

Marla: You know, another thing that we’re seeing, is the patient just needs to go home and think about it. We want to get them while we’re there and get them in office, but there’s still that time where they’re going to walk away and so we’ve built autofocus follow up where they’re getting text reminders and from home, they can open that and take a look at all those options again from home that they’ve already seen in the practice is 24 percent of case acceptance is happening after they go home. So 24 percent more are saying yes.

Victoria: You know, um, I’ve been a marketer for a long time that, that just follows human behavior and marketing rules. It’s, it’s more about frequency than it is about volume. So people do have to think about things and consider it sometimes, you know, three to seven times before they say yes. So there is that, I, I think most of the time the patient who comes in and says yes immediately, they’ve seen another practitioner before, they knew they needed it before, they’ve been saving for it, it’s been a dream, and they say yes, but if you’re the first touch, and the first time a patient’s heard this, uh, it’s, it’s not unusual for, for folks to have to think about it, so I love that automated part, I mean, uh, given the downturn in, in, in employee availability, you know, most dental practices are short staffed having, um, you know, having automated touch points. I mean, it doesn’t replace the human connection, but it augments it and so, all right, things you can do today. If you’re noticing that your patients are not saying yes at the frequency, I’m slowing this down. So we get it. First of all, let’s, let’s get rid of the paper and get it on an automated platform and I’m you guys even give them a, uh, iPad, right?

Marla: Correct. Yeah.

Victoria: So I’ve got my tablet and it’s there. What I love about that. I’ve been doing consulting for 30 years and the first thing we do is we create a financial boundaries, uh, policy, you know, what do we do for, um, primary insurance, secondary insurance, children of divorce, all of these things. Do we take this, do we take that and why, but I’ve helped our offices set up your system and what’s so cool is just answering the setup questions in the back end of it answers like 99 percent of all your financial boundaries questions and for the doctors that I work with. They always say, “I, I now have peace of mind that my team can’t go outside the boundaries that I set.” So it’s not based on the verbal communication because it’s like, it’s so well scripted. Uh, and I just told my coaches, I said, “You know, it’s good if we want to write all this down, but it really is in the, programming of, and your default settings are so, I mean, they’re in line with my benchmarks of, of how to do things.

Marla: Right and by, by having that configurations, it’s set in advance, it also eliminates, you know, we’re seeing more turnover than we’ve seen in the past. So if you have all those, um, you know, guidelines, but then, you know, team player B comes along and they don’t know all that. This is just a really easy way to make sure it’s passed from team to team member.

Victoria: I see it both sides. I see team turnover and I see team expansion. I, since the pandemic, practices that are doing well are doing very well. We have practices 12, 15, 20, 25 percent. In 2023, 2024 is softening a bit, but we’re still seeing double digit growth. And I know it’s because they’ve really slowed down long enough to say, “How can I help?”  And these kind of tools are some of the secrets to it. All right, I’m going to divert just a little bit. We’ve been talking about general dentistry, but a lot of our offices I’m not going to do brand names, but aligners and rapid ortho and adult ortho and kiddo ortho. Do you cover that as well?

Marla: Yeah, absolutely and we’ve actually found that that’s a great way to introduce accept care into your, your office is because, you know, if a practice is really trying to grow their ortho program. What a great way to increase profits, to, you know, work on your presentation skills. There are, you know, consultants, like, you know, just like your, your team that can come in and say, “Let’s, let’s talk about how are we going to approach with adult patients?” You know, how are we going to have this conversation and so all of the things that, you know, PDA or a company like yours can come in and talk about, but then also the platform to make it really easy to put into the workflow. So, um, easy conversation and, and that’s a great way to introduce accept care into a practice is like, let’s begin to pull it out every single time we’re talking about braces or aligners, and let’s just grow this program first and that gets it, you know, I’ve ingrained in the workflow and then it can expand to other things. We just, you know, see that as a real easy entry point for a practice that wants to take some sort of specialty and grow and this tool really helps to grow with that specialty

Victoria: And that would have helped your daughter.

Marla: Yes

Victoria: It’s one of the things that could have helped your daughter so much. Oh, my goodness. Well, I’m excited to see you at our September conference. Thank you for being a proud supporter of Productive Dentist Academy and we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary of bringing solid resources to dentistry. In fact, we’re going to have Allison LaCoursiere speaking for iTero and Clear Aligner on this. So if you’re coming to the workshop, you’ll get to meet Marla. I hope you’re there this time.

Marla: Oh, I’m going to be can’t wait.

Yeah, it’s going to be. It’s going to be a blast. Thank you for joining me here today. It’s always so much fun to chat with you and hear the new things that are happening with AcceptCare and OrthoFi. Your passion for removing obstacles and helping patients get the care they need. I mean, it always shines through. So thank you.

Marla: Thank you so much. I’ve enjoyed spending some time with you and look forward to next time and seeing you in September.

Victoria: I love it. If people want to get in touch with you, how do they do that, Marla?

Marla: So, um, it is Marla, marla.merritt. So, marla.merritt@orthofi.com we’d love to hear from you and then of course, if you want to learn more about AcceptCare, just visit acceptcare.com.

Victoria: Excellent. We’ll get those in the show notes and, uh, as always, thank you for doing all that you do for dentistry.

Marla: Thank you, Victoria.