Dear Sharyn
I’d love to drop kick my insurance plans and just be fee for service. In fact, I was all set to do that this year until one of my colleagues told me that after leaving Delta she lost so many patients, her schedule is now so empty she hears crickets. She even let one of her hygienists go. Now I’m afraid to make any changes. What do you suggest?
N.S., Ohio
Dear N.S.
The plan I use to help dentists change their relationship with insurance generally works flawlessly. Dentists retain their patients and regain their sanity. BUT – there are some circumstances where one should proceed with caution. It will be a rockier process if patients see your practice as inter-changeable with other local offices and if they have an intractable insurance mindset. For example, if you practice in a military town or in a place where most patients work in the same industry with the same benefits plan, then these patients may not stay with you.
You can successfully phase out of insurance when your patients believe that their relationship with you and your team is so unique and valuable that they would be willing to incur additional costs. Therefore, it’s critical that if you want to go FFS, you provide exemplary customer service and establish a reputation that distinguishes your practice from others in your community.
