Patient Financing: A Path to Preventive Care and Wellness

The global consumer wellness market is at $1.8 trillion and counting, as per McKinsey & Company's latest Future of Wellness research, so it makes sense that health and wellness is a top priority for 82% of consumers in the United States.¹ People want to prioritize their well-being, but for many, the unpredictability of rising health and wellness costs may interfere with this goal.² You can help patients and clients keep up with important preventive care and support their wellness efforts with versatile patient financing.

A recent study found costs are nearly 1.5 times the amount respondents anticipated when it comes to health and wellness.² Financing solutions can offer patients and clients convenient monthly payments, flexibility and opportunities to help empower them to move forward with care.

Emerging Trends in Health and Wellness

Health and wellness trends give patients options to choose the preventive care that suits their preferences. For many, that means paying closer attention to providers who focus on the following:³

• Continuous care model. Rather than episodic health treatment, modern health and wellness are shifting to disease prevention and health maintenance, including close care after hospitalization and discharge. The goal is for patients and clients to be better informed and on more even footing with health and wellness providers.
• Digital advancements. The future of health and wellness services includes an increased use of digital health technology and telemedicine, which expands the reach of preventive healthcare and wellness services, remote monitoring (such as vitals, glucose or mood) and personalized health interventions.
• Financing options across health and wellness. The ability to pay for many types of preventive care and wellness services using a credit card that offers financing options can help make the cost more manageable for patients and clients who have versatile health and wellness priorities for themselves and family members (including pets).⁴
• Patient-centered approach. Patients and clients want improved engagement. Practices that step up to offer preventive care and personal coaching can allow for faster, closer, lower-cost care.

Preventive and Proactive Care for Long-Term Health and Wellness

The wellness market in the U.S. alone has reached $480 billion, pushed along in part by Gen Z and millennials, who purchase more wellness services and products than preceding generations in areas like nutrition, fitness, sleep, mindfulness and appearance.¹

According to the National Library of Medicine findings, people want to stay healthier for longer and prevent disease. They are acknowledging the necessity of maintaining and improving good health to achieve these goals. They're focused on catching issues early in order to reduce long-term health and wellness costs and improve quality of life.³ For many, this means investing in themselves through the health system and beyond.

Providers can benefit from helping patients and clients achieve long-term health and wellness outcomes with easy payment methods like health and wellness financing. You can encourage more visits or regular checkups at your practice or business while minimizing patient and client cost concerns, especially if you work in areas of preventive care and wellness that especially interest modern consumers:⁴

• Dental care
• Dermatology treatments
• Healthy aging
• Hearing tests
• Med and day spa visits
• Men’s and women's wellness exams
• Mental health services
• Regular chiropractic visits
• Preventive health screenings (mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.)
• Vision exams

Some health and wellness services are not covered by insurance plans. In such cases, patient financing can benefit interested patients and clients and is sometimes the only way they can access their chosen type of care. These services can include:⁵

• Acupuncture
• Alternative therapies
• Cosmetic dentistry
• Hearing aids
• Infertility treatment
• Private nursing
• Select prescription drugs
• Weight loss programs

Many patients and clients look to health and wellness providers for alternative payment options, and the types of financing a provider offers can have a significant impact on whether a patient chooses that practice. Flexible financing is a priority for many.⁴

Break the Cost Barrier to Care With Patient Financing

Cost can be a concern for some patients and clients, especially those who do not have insurance or a Health Savings Account.⁴ Financing can be a powerful way to help people move forward with the health and wellness services they want or need.

• Offer financial flexibility. Patients and clients have the flexibility to pay their costs over time with financing and have more choice about when to pursue care for their needs. It’s easy for patients and clients to move forward with health and wellness services when they know how they’ll be paying for it.⁴
• Make immediate treatment possible. Reasonable financing offers relief and the ability to say yes to treatment in the moment rather than delaying recommended treatment. Not everyone is prepared for health and wellness costs — 4 out of 5 Americans do not have savings to cover health emergencies.²
• Fill in the insurance blanks. Patient financing solutions like the CareCredit credit card can be used for copays, coinsurance, deductibles and services not covered by insurance.

There are also plenty of financing benefits for health and wellness providers:⁴

• Helps boost patient satisfaction. When you offer patients and clients with flexible financing options, you can help improve patient satisfaction and loyalty and keep clients coming back.
• Bundled services. Through CareCredit, select industries can offer bundled services and treatment plans that patients or clients use within 90 days but require only one transaction. This option is beneficial in health and wellness areas where multiple visits or treatments are often scheduled back to back, such as in behavioral health, occupational therapy, nutrition, dermatology, med or day spas, physical and speech therapy and chiropractic.
• Helps reduce account receivables. Financing solutions allow health and wellness providers to get paid fast, which means less time spent tracking down payments, greater administrative productivity and improved operating margins.

Patient Financing Can Help Patients Move Forward with Preventive Care

Patients and clients have reported feelings of stress, anxiety, annoyance and frustration when it comes to out-of-pocket health and wellness expenses. As many as 3 out of 4 people surveyed by Synchrony would seek more health and wellness services if they had ways to pay for them.⁴ Given the costs of preventive care services and preventive health screenings, many people look to their providers for alternative payment options that allow them to pay the full amount over time.

Patient financing options can empower patients and clients in their health and wellness and preventive care, which can reduce the burden of health and wellness debt, make the payment of services more manageable and create a greater willingness to pay at the time of service. For providers, financing can help reduce the collections burden, increase patient volume and return visits for regular checkups and build trust and satisfaction with patients and clients.⁴

A Patient Financing Solution for Health and Wellness Providers

If you are looking for a way to connect your patients with flexible financing that empowers them to pay for the care they want and need, consider offering the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution. CareCredit allows cardholders to pay for out-of-pocket health and wellness expenses over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice or business.

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, your practice or business will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a 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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The CareCredit health and wellness credit card helps improve the payment experience for patients and clients, and your financial performance.

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