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Dentists: New Dental Technologies Drive Demand and Profits

Posted by Tom Lombardo | Thu, May 01, 2014 @ 10:00 AM

dentists chairAs attitudes towards dental care evolve, dentists can adopt new technologies to drive demand and to take advantage of changing sources of payment. New challenges from every demographic – children, Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers – require proactive planning in your practice.

Children

Let’s start with children, millions of whom are about to get dental coverage through the Affordable Care Act. To provide for them profitably, dental offices may opt for expanded staffs of hygienists. Younger consumers, such as these children’s parents, don’t consider themselves or their children “patients,” according to a recent study commissioned by the American Dental Association. They are “consumers of health care” and 47% of them are happy to accept routine care from a more efficiently priced technician, as opposed to a doctor.

Adults

Generation X and Millennials have higher rates of coverage from employers. Most will be covered by preferred provider plans, and in order for you to become a member of these preferred networks you’ll need to adapt to their demand for increased accountability through data-driven performance measures.  Software that tracks appointments and patient records provides this data and maintains your status within the networks. When you select your software, be sure the patient-facing parts of it can be accessed on a mobile phone, since many prospects in this demographic may consider that a critical differentiator for your business.

Seniors

Older Baby Boomers are one of the fastest growing groups relative to the U.S. population. Many of them don’t have coverage, and they are among the most likely to need care. For high-cost elective care they are more than willing to become “medical tourists,” often obtaining care in Mexico or Eastern Europe -- unless you can impress them with your knowledge and superior abilities. Technology plays a significant role here, too. Showing a prospect that you have secure software to collaborate with specialists and labs, that you have interactive access to the latest research, and that you provide self-help tutorials online can help keep their business in your office.

Dentistry

Of course, let’s not forget dentistry itself, for which you’ll also need the latest technology. A dentist taking impressions with a cumbersome mold full of goop will not compete with one doing the same thing more quickly and more accurately with the latest 3D scanner. A dentist simply looking at someone’s teeth will seem archaic compared to one using a laser to identify carious lesions as deep as 5mm below the tooth surface and as small as 50 microns in size.

Acquiring technology such as this may be critical for long-term business development, but it obviously puts a strain on your near-term cash flow. Industry wide, 49% of payments come from insurance providers.  But 42% are made out-of-pocket, and according to the Federal Reserve, people tend to make large payments with checks.

Investing in a payment service like CrossCheck’s MED-RDC may be the key to making sure all your technology investments generate a return. MED-RDC, at its core, offers check guarantee for patient payments so that if a check bounces it is returned to us, not to you, and there is no impact on your cash flow or your account balance. For insurance payments, use conversion, as these checks have little likelihood of being returned. Remote Deposit Capture allows you to deposit checks from the convenience of your office. No more resources or time wasted depositing checks at the bank. MED-RDC’s multiple check premium is also appealing. Multiple check enables you to accept 2-4 checks over 30 days with an agreed upon amount for each -- a customer-centric flexibility that may help you attract and retain clients.  

Learn more about MED-RDC and how it can benefit you and your practice by downloading our free guide:

Medical Remote Deposit Capture Insider's Guide

Topics: Dentists, Technology

Written by Tom Lombardo