Ready to cut ties with PPOs, but afraid to lose patients?
Whether you’ve just recently started to think about transitioning away from PPOs at your practice, or have already done some legwork to figure out exactly which ones you want to drop — maybe one of them, maybe all of them — chances are you’re worried about the impact this decision may have on the number of active patients (and the associated production) at your practice.
While the potential of losing patients should be a big consideration while you and your team plan the transition, rest assured that you can successfully drop your lowest-paying PPOs, mitigate patient attrition, and attract new patients to replace the ones that leave if you go about the process correctly.
“The fear of losing patients is the main reason that dentists are afraid to cut ties with their PPOs,” Dave Monahan, CEO of leading membership plan software provider Kleer, says. “But having a well thought out plan and an alternative coverage option that works better for your practice and patients goes a long way towards mitigating patient attrition while freeing yourself and your practice from insurance.”
Success requires a well-thought out plan, and collaboration with your front desk team
If you haven’t already done so, you should analyze your PPOs so you can understand the value each PPO brings to your practice, and the potential impact that dropping them will have on your results. The goal of this analysis is to evaluate all of your PPOs, eventually isolating the worst of the bunch — those with low production and low reimbursement rates. Once you have this information, you can develop a plan that starts transitioning away from the worst PPOs first, since dropping these will have little impact on your practice and are a great place for your team to learn.
It’s important to involve the front desk team in this process and gather their feedback along the way — they will be critical to a successful transition since they will be managing communication with both patients and the PPOs. You’ll want to work with the team closely to figure out the best ways of letting your patients know that the transition is coming, what that means for them, and what options are available. Tailor your messaging accordingly, and take it one patient at a time.
Offer an alternative coverage option to retain patients
Having an alternative coverage option ready for patients currently covered by those soon-to-be-dropped PPOs is crucial to retaining patients and maintaining production, and implementing an in-office dental membership plan that these patients can be converted to is the most effective way to do this. Membership plans are easy and affordable for your patients and simple for your team to manage — especially when they’re powered by a third party provider, like Kleer.
Membership plans can also offset patient attrition, because the patients who use them are better patients for your practice — they’re more loyal and engaged, visit more frequently, accept more treatment, create more production, and generate more revenue. When compared to other uninsured patients, they:
- Visit 2-3X more often
- Generate 1.7X more hygiene production
- Accept 2.3X more treatment
- Generate 2.1X more revenue
You’ll also need a plan for new patients that isn’t reliant on being in-network
If most of your new patients come from being in-network, you’ll want to put a marketing plan in place so that new patients can continue to find you. And your membership plan can be a foundational piece of this marketing plan — based on Kleer’s market research, 80% of uninsured patients are interested in purchasing a coverage plan if it’s simple, affordable, and comprehensive. Plus, if you’re using a provider like Kleer to power your membership plan, you’ll have an entire team dedicated to ensuring the success of your membership plan — and practice — alongside access to both in-office and digital marketing tools plus tips and best practices that thousands of other practices across the country have used to help attract new, fee for service patients that aren’t reliant on being in-network with any provider.
Remember that you’re making the right decision, so be confident and stay the course
The relationship between third-party payers and dental practices has always been an inequitable one, but for many, the combination of rising PPE costs, ever decreasing reimbursement, and slimmer-than-ever margins has accelerated plans of dropping the lowest-paying, most underperforming plans. Being smart and specific about which PPOs you keep, and which you drop is a step forward towards a better, more profitable practice that’s set up for long-term success.
Just remember that dropping the PPOs that are not working for your practice is the right decision to make — so be confident and stay the course!
Dropping your lowest-paying PPOs doesn’t have to be scary
While there are risks that come with ending certain PPO participation, carefully planning ahead helps you and your practice handle the transition properly — mitigating patient loss in the short term and saving yourself and your team the paperwork, write-offs, hassles, and headaches in the long run.
To help make the process less daunting, Kleer has created a toolkit that’s full of information on transitioning away from PPOs and resources to help you assess your specific situation and plan accordingly — covering everything from analyzing your current PPOs to mitigating patient attrition and attracting new patients to your practice.
To access the toolkit, visit go.kleer.com/drop-ppos-toolkit.
