People today are used to being able to use a credit card, or perhaps a debit card, to make payments. For some people, especially with higher value charges, it may be important to be able to break up the charge over two or more payment options.
While many patients in dental offices have insurance, the vast majority do not. Additionally, even with dental insurance, most patients will be paying some portion, and they may have a higher or lower deductible or even a co-pay. There are also reimbursement plans out there where the patient pays the full cost to the dentist, and then submits the receipts and is reimbursed.
Bringing in New Patients
Every practice needs to have a continual stream of new patients to continue to thrive, grow and stay viable. New patients are much more likely to look for a dentist that accepts credit or debit payment options, which is why it is essential to have a dentist credit card processing service in place.
When new patients are searching online or calling into your practice, they can easily verify that their credit or debit card will be accepted at the time of payment. With credit cards, this allows the patient to pay the dentist that day, but they pay off the charge over time. While this may result in the patient paying interest to the credit card company, the convenience of being able to have the dental work done when needed rather than trying to budget or save for the work in the future is a significant factor for most people.
Even for those with funds in the bank, using a debit card rather than having to carry cash or remember a check book is a positive feature. Debit cards also provide an instant record of the transaction for the patient, which is another convenience people expect in most transactions today.
Staff Work Reduction
With dentist credit card processing services in place, your office staff is also free to spend time doing what they need to do rather than trying to reconcile payments and customer records.
The top dentist credit card processing programs will automatically update patient records with payments the second they are made. Not only will the records update, but the cash will be in your business account on the same business day, which is very different than a traditional card company processor that may take days to transfer the funds to your account.