Ways to Add Financing Discussions to Dental Front-Office Training

Incorporating discussions about patient financing into dental front-office training can give your entire staff a shared foundation and may enhance employees’ abilities to improve patient satisfaction. When your team is on the same page thanks to dental front-desk training, you can establish and deliver a united front where financing knowledge can help patients feel at ease, informed and confident about their oral healthcare choices.

The more details front-office employees know and understand about dental financing, the better equipped they can be to answer basic questions from interested patients and enhance the dental payment experience.

Understand the Impact of Patient Financing on Dental Healthcare

Dental care can be costly at times, especially for people without dental insurance or those who underestimate the cost of care; however, treatment is not out of reach.¹ Offering dental patient financing can be a powerful option with benefits for both the patient and your practice, including:

• Empowering patients to move forward with dental care. Financing allows patients to pay for their care over time rather than trying to fit a large expense into their monthly budget all at once. With this increased financial flexibility, patients may be less likely to put off dental care due to cost constraints. As a result, financing can help increase dental plan acceptance rates, helping patients move forward with their oral healthcare.¹
• Showing commitment to patient care. Consumers are becoming more involved in their healthcare decisions and actively seeking engagement from dental offices.² There are more opportunities than ever to deliver exceptional care and connect with patients, and offering dental financing is one of them.
• Influencing dental practice growth and patient base expansion. Patients often prefer not to wait for dental care and may choose another provider unless options are available that resonate with them, such as speedy scheduling and helpful dental financing.² Front-office staff can convey the benefits of creative financing measures to help encourage treatment acceptance and practice growth.

Benefits of Effective Financing Training for Dental Front-Office Staff

Onboarding is not just for new employees. When your dental practice trains your front-office team on specific topics like patient financing, new and established employees alike gain knowledge and confidence in their roles. For your front-office team, this may look like:

• Improving patient communication skills. The more an employee knows about dental financing and the options available to pay for dental care, the better they can talk with patients about the right choice for them.
• Developing confidence when presenting financing options. Patients often trust professionals who are confident and understand the material they are presenting. If your dental front-office team is thoroughly trained and practiced in the art of presenting dental financing and addressing hesitations, that awareness can come through for patients.¹
• Increasing understanding of financing programs and benefits. Knowing the bare minimum when it comes to dental financing is important. But front-office staff need to know as much as possible so they can answer all the questions patients have about the benefits of patient financing.¹
• Improving office efficiency and collection efforts. Dental financing can minimize confusion and help eliminate delays when it comes to payments for your dental office or important treatment for your patients. Front-office staff members who can explain how financing works and put patients at ease can help fast-track dental care decision-making.

Best Practices to Consider for Front-Office Dental Financing Training

Dental front-office training can be worth the effort. Any employee can easily fall into a routine and neglect to mention dentistry financing options that could help patients feel more at ease about their treatment costs. Train early and often when it comes to financing, as this is an important element of your dental practice management.

• Discuss types of financing solutions. Help staff understand different patient financing solutions offered by your practice so they can discuss them in detail. This may include solutions such as a health and wellness credit card like CareCredit, third-party loans, in-house payment plans, in-house dental membership plans and others.¹
• Address timing and approach for introducing payment options. Early discussions about dental care costs and payment options can address the concerns patients may have about treatment and financial obligations, but sometimes the timing needs to be adjusted. Solicit staff opinions about their experiences with patients and timing.³
• Tailor financing solutions to fit patient needs. Your front-office team knows your patients as well as you do, and they may be aware of their financial concerns when it comes to paying for dental care. Include tailored financing solutions in dental reception training to empower your staff to help patients feel comfortable with their choices.¹
• Have regular dental reception training. Keep dental financing information fresh for team members by reviewing one important topic, like patient financing, at monthly or quarterly meetings. This effort enables the entire staff to brush up on best practices for integrating the subject into exchanges with patients to foster communication and improve the efficiency of treatment decisions.³
• Review legal and ethical considerations. When coaching staff on how to talk to patients about financing, certain wording and information must be conveyed carefully to ensure compliance. Dental financing companies can help make it easier for a practice to comply with lending regulations at both federal and state levels.¹

Technology and Tools to Support Dental Financing Operations

Dental practices are only as efficient as the digital tools they use for scheduling, payments, customer accounts and front-office tasks. Making a digital transformation is entirely possible for less tech-savvy practices, so they can merge the best of the physical and digital worlds to enhance front-office knowledge, performance and patient engagement.⁴

• Digital tools for efficiency and accuracy. Digital tools can help improve the patient experience.⁴ There are many software platforms that integrate with programs like CareCredit and offer features to streamline the patient financing process.
• Training resources for continuing education. Dental reception training, tools and resources to support dental practices can include payment calculators that provide estimated payments and guidelines for creating a financial landing page, both of which help facilitate easier financial talks.
• Scripts for consistent conversations. Front-office staff repeat conversations on the phone with various callers who ask about appointments, dental emergencies, treatment costs and more. Scripts help make sure the same information is communicated every time to every patient.⁵

Overcome Challenges in Dental Financing Training

It’s important for every member of your front-office staff to understand patient financing at a basic level, but it’s a benefit if you have one or two employees who are the go-to resources for questions that others may have difficulty addressing accurately.

How do you know who your front-office financing resource is? How do you identify employees who aren’t eager to convey financial responsibilities to patients? Consider the following challenges in dental financing training.

• Reluctant staff members. Some staff members are comfortable discussing patient financing. Some are not. Identify employees who are likely to be the best point-of-contact with patients, whether in-person, over the phone or online, when it comes to financing conversations. Give them support and room to do the work for which they’ve been trained.
• Discomfort over money conversations. You may encounter staff members who find money conversations distasteful. They may feel like they’re bothering patients (especially new patients) about financing methods, so it’s important to reinforce that discussing flexible financing options can be a big help to the right people. If you put together a comfortable employee with an uncomfortable patient, progress is more likely.¹
• Lack of motivation. It isn’t easy being the first point of contact in a dental office day after day, especially when patients have a complaint or are disgruntled. Keep your front-office staff motivated and armed to manage difficulties that come their way by informing them about new patient financing options and other perks that can help patients feel confident and less stressed about the dental care ahead.
• Privacy and compliance. Part of your team training should include the importance of ensuring patient privacy and maintaining compliance during financial discussions. Reinforce these rules regularly so that, if asked, front-office workers can reassure patients their information is safe and all measures of financing and payment are aboveboard for your dental practice.

Facilitate Financing Conversations Between Patients and Front-Office Staff

Credibility often matters to people seeking better health, and well-established patient financing options that can be used in multiple healthcare settings can be helpful to dental practices. Financing options with CareCredit financing help make it possible for patients to pay for oral healthcare and use their card at locations in the network for other health and wellness costs for themselves and their pets.

Whether your staff is new or established, it is beneficial to acknowledge their expertise and make the best use of everyone’s unique skills.⁶ Front-office staff who are adept at talking numbers with patients can help put people at ease and simplify complex information so it is manageable, understandable and helps keep patients coming back.

A Dental Patient Financing Solution for Your Practice

Want to help more patients move forward with the dental care they want or need? Consider offering the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution. CareCredit allows patients to pay for out-of-pocket dental care costs over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice.

When you accept CareCredit, patients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a dental patient financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Elizabeth Weiss is a freelance writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience in content development for dentistry, orthodontics and cosmetic dermatology. She focuses on making healthcare topics accessible to readers and contributes to many fields, from family and estate law to industrial services and landscape design.

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