Are the larger dental plan administrators offering a value lead proposition – or are they focused on keeping shareholders happy and maximising their own profits?
Times are difficult in dentistry and practices need to keep costs tight and work smarter to maintain a profitable practice.
In the BDA’s recent video cast series, Nick Ledingham, Chairman of NASDAL (the National Association of Specialist Accountants and Lawyers), discussed how important benchmarking costs are and suggested dentists must increasingly pay more attention to the business aspects of running a successful practice.
Dental plans are a very effective tool to guarantee regular income and maintain a sustainable business model.
However, plan administration fees can account for one of the largest overheads in a practice and should be benchmarked and reviewed regularly.
Are you getting value from the plan administration fees you pay?
Larger plan administrators argue higher fee structures are justified by support and services offered in other key practice functions.
In reality, these services can be either limited or incur additional costs and indeed many practices don’t use any additional services whatsoever but have
to pay for them!
Patient Plan Direct’s approach is different and unique.
Our fee structure is transparent and reflects the nature of our core service, that of being a plan administrator.
Many practices that have transferred to Patient Plan Direct benefit in two ways.
Firstly, by the huge savings which transfer directly to bottom line profit and secondly by reinvesting savings to access tailored support in areas that demand attention.
Patient Plan Direct have developed a quality partner network that offers bespoke services tailor made to a practices’ requirements not a generic
service as can be the case with other plan providers. By separating our costs for plan administration away from 'other services' we are able to offer the best value to our clients without jeopardising quality.
Patient Plan Direct clients benefit further by having access to a state of the art payment processing platform which allows the practice staff to view all their patient payment records, produce reports and add new patients to their plan in seconds rather than completing and submitting paper applications to their plan administrator.
Patient Plan Direct suggest practices should question the way their plan administrator 'bundles' their charges and challenge them to charge a standard administration fee and a separate fee for any additional support services.
It is highly unlikely they would be prepared to do this as it would put a huge hole in their profits. But is it fair to pay for something you aren’t using?
Patient Plan Direct’s plan administration fee of just £1 per patient per month (including worldwide A&E cover) has proved to save practices tens of thousands in costs year on year. This fee structure has not changed in the past three years and we have no intention of increasing our fees in the future.
We are focused on providing value for money to our clients and not inflated profits for shareholders. Has your plan administrator increased their fees lately?
In summary, its time to challenge the status quo, don’t pay more than you need for your plan administration and don’t access the same support and advice as the practice around the corner.
Cut costs sensibly, give your practice a competitive edge via bespoke support services and explore the alternative approach to dental plan administration that makes sense.
Find out more with no obligation by visiting www.patientplandirect.co.uk or call 0844 848 6888.
