About:

 

• This week, Dr. Glenn Vo spoke with someone new to the Nifty Thrifty community: Eric Dawe of DentalHQ. However, you may be familiar with DentalHQ’s founder, Dr. Brett Wells 
• Eric is the Vice President of Business Development at DentalHQ. The company helps practices provide uninsured patients access to in-house membership plans. 
• The goal of offering a membership plan is to help you make more money and help your patients accept more treatment. 
• It’s an unfortunate reality that only 20% of uninsured patients actually see a dentist. This means the vast majority go without routine care. DentalHQ aims to provide the solution to get more patients in need in practice chairs. 
• The biggest demographic inquiring about plans includes newly retired patients and the self-employed. Since the pandemic, more and more people make up the “gig economy,” which means less people have access to insurance through an employer. 
• The company began when Brett acted upon a need he saw within his own practice. After learning about membership plans at a seminar, he decided to incorporate them into his office. However, Brett had to work through a fair share of kinks along the way. 
• Eric says that “As his plan grew, it was harder and harder to actually administrate.”
• Brett’s team found that, when they called patients who needed to renew their plan, every patient said the exact same thing: “Sure, I wanna be on it. I’ll renew it when I come back in for my next appointment.” Unfortunately, this next appointment could take as long as 8-9 months to arrive—if ever—when it comes to uninsured patients. 
• So, DentalHQ began as a means to automate collection of payments. Since then, the company has continued to evolve to make dentists’ jobs easier and help more patients access treatment. 
• With DentalHQ, you can expect a big shift in patient mentality. Typically, dentists will find many patients who are willing to accept the treatment they need, but these patients never come back for financial reasons. It’s sad but true that uninsured patients are far less likely to stick with a practice. 
• However, a membership plan encourages patients to come back closer to the six month mark. When a patient signs up, practice owners get paid for their two annual cleanings regardless of whether the patient follows through. Ideally, patients feel motivated to accept this treatment to make the most of their plan and get value out of what they paid for. 
• When you invest in DentalHQ’s services, you take an additional role’s worth of work off your team’s shoulders. This is important for any office, but especially so for the many practices affected by staffing shortages in the last few years. 
• Delegating tasks to the software allows your team more time and energy to do what they do best—helping patients get the treatment they deserve. 
• To top it off, DentalHQ has evolved to offer a new innovative feature: Business and Community Connect. The team designed this feature to help extend your practice’s reach toward small businesses and groups in the area. 
• “Think about any group,” Eric says, “people in apartments, living communities, youth sports clubs—these are all groups that have tons of uninsured patients. Why not reach out to them? And why not let us do that for you?” 
• Dental practices are far from the only businesses who’ve been hit by staffing shortages. Some businesses may not be financially stable enough to offer their employees dental benefits through insurance. 
• This is where you can step in and strike a deal. Business owners can subsidize any amount they want—they chip in some, and their employees can chip in $5-$15 or so to join your membership plan. This makes dental care even more accessible and gets more local patients into your practice. 
• Eric emphasizes that when DentalHQ says “we help you with the plans, we’re talking start to finish.” The team helps you configure the rates for your plan—in the process, they ensure you receive full fees for hygienic treatments. 
• Patients may choose between a monthly or annual enrollment option, but most patients choose the latter. The platform can also calculate discounts on family plans for you, as well as any other costs and discounts that will help you stay within your budget. 
• DentalHQ also offers templates you can customize and feature on your website to help inform prospects about your membership plan. Here, future patients can access details on all that your plan offers, as well as instructions on how to join. 
•  The platform notifies your team when a new member enrolls. When this patient has an appointment, Eric says the next steps for your staff are simple: “It’s just like checking an insurance benefit… all your team does: check the dashboard, make sure they’re active, that’s it.” 
• DentalHQ takes care of collecting payments, real-time reporting, monthly reporting, and direct deposit, which takes more responsibility off your team’s shoulders. 
• The team has all hands on deck to help your practice, but Eric emphasizes that “even though we’re helping you administrate this plan, it is your plan.” When patients enroll, they’re not joining a DentalHQ network—DentalHQ acts as a white label for your office. 
• If you’re still not convinced, you can trust the satisfaction of a few thousand practices currently using the platform. Some customers turn to the company after giving in-house membership a shot on their own; once they team up with DentalHQ, Eric says they never go back. 
• As your practice continues to grow, you’ll become less and less efficient at running your membership plan by yourself. With more patients comes more responsibility—in this case, this means more money left on the table. 
• You don’t have to break the bank to put your practice in good hands. DentalHQ’s services come at a cost that typically falls 40-60% lower than the competition—and that’s before the Nifty Thrifty deal!  
• There is no set-up cost, no monthly commitment, and no fine print tying your office or your patients to DentalHQ. 
• In fact, DentalHQ is so passionate about proving their worth that they only get paid as your practice grows. The team wants to earn your business every month, which gives you freedom you can’t get with other companies who want to lock in contracts. 
• All the while, DentalHQ continues to innovate and evolve. The company plans to release multiple new upgrades starting this September that will keep the platform on the road to perfection. 
• If you want to set your practice on the path to success, you can take advantage of the Nifty deal. Members of the community get another 15% off! 
• You can connect with the team at DentalHQ.com, or DentalHQ.com/niftythrifty. Here, you can schedule a quick demo or talk one-on-one with the team about your practice’s specific needs. 
• From there, you can complete a 15 minute onboarding followed by team training. Eric wants you to know you’ll be walked through the whole process— “we’re gonna continually help you grow your plan.” 
• Learn about…
  • Why does the DentalHQ team consider Dr. Brett Wells’s office to be their “laboratory?”
  • Who inspired Dr. Brett Wells to incorporate in-house membership plans into his practices?
    • Hint: many members of the community may be familiar with him! 
  • How does DentalHQ go the extra mile to help you market your business? 
  • How does DentalHQ simplify and reduce your team’s responsibilities?
  • What do clients such as Dr. White and Dr. Ford have to say about their experience with DentalHQ? 
  • How has Dr. Ford learned that membership plans lead to higher collections? 
  • Who endorses DentalHQ?
    • Hint; a number of state associations! 
  • How did DentalHQ work to perfect the formula to connect your practice with local businesses? 
  • What are DentalHQ’s “per-member” management fees? 
  • How can your membership plan pay for itself?
  • And more!

 

NIFTY DEAL:

• 15% off DentalHQ Services!

Get the deal here:

• https://www.dentalhq.com/