Cirrus Dental

As we move forward with continual changes in the dental office, creating new efficiencies is necessary to improve costs for patients and increase profits for dental teams.    Dental insurance has played a critical roll in allowing individuals to seek preventive care over the years for a fixed monthly cost. However, over the years the insurance executives have become “fat cats” often retaining more than half of the premiums patients pay while decreasing the reimbursements to dental offices. The insurance executives advise dental offices to find more efficient ways of operating.   Dental memberships allow a more efficient way to operate, transforming the dental office into a lean machine and eliminating the high overhead associated with traditional insurance. The patient subscribes directly with the dentist, allowing for lower monthly costs while boosting the office income.   A membership program can also help you to escape the PPO trap, by offering your patients an alternative. 

If a 30 minute prophy now takes you 45 minutes have your fees been adjusted accordingly? If you have 50 percent less time in your schedule, how will you fill your schedule? If you are participating with insurance companies with unrealistic reimbursement rates what will happen to your income. Many practices have maintained the salaries of their staff which should equate to 25-30% of revenue. If you now have an effective 50% increase in staffing costs due to increased appointment times, are you able to absorb the difference? Do you want to consider a change? It may sound counter intuitive, in a time with so much that is unknown, do you want to drop an insurance company now? With an in-office subscription service you can begin to take control of your economic future by setting fees that reflect the current economic reality.  Many dentists are now dropping big dental insurance carriers. They still accept payment from these insurance companies, they have just changed their stat

In-Office subscriptions can have a variety of service charges imposed by the administrators. Here we will outline some of the more common pricing strategies of management companies to help you make an educated determination of what is best for your office. Some companies have one price and some use a combination of costs. ·        Per Patient Fee – This is a fixed amount you will pay monthly or annually for every patient subscribed ·        Percentage Fee – This fee is a percentage of the funds you earn from your subscription ·        Processing Fee – Some plans require you to run all of your credit card transactions through their service and charge a fee based on these transactions ·        Monthly or Annual Fee – A set amount, regardless of the number of patients you have enrolled in the service ·        Sign-up Cost – A fee required to setup your account. Many times, this fee is waived. It is used as a hook to make you think you are getting a good deal if you signup i

Dental PPO’s Will Drive You Out of Business Significant changes are underway in the dental marketplace as a result of the novel coronavirus. The ADA Health Policy Institute is forecasting a 2/3 decline in dental spending in the next year. This is coupled with increased costs for PPE and decreased capacity to see patients due to social distancing and new infection control procedures. The economics associated with PPO’s likely mean many of the procedures you perform will cost you more than you will receive in payments. Do you have the ability to set fair rates of reimbursement when you participate with a PPO? How long will you be able to continue practicing when you are losing money on procedures? With many traditional dental insurance companies retaining 40 percent or more of patient premiums, now is the time to consider a new economic model, an in-office subscription. A subscription service allows you to capitalize on the inefficiencies of traditional insurance by increas

If your dental team is faced with downtime, you might consider having them learn about a new product or service that results in more patients and more income for the office. A dental subscription is a way to create recurring revenue for your office and create loyalty with your patients.  But what type of subscription is right for your office and what should you consider when setting up your subscription program? Who will administer the subscription?              Option 1 : Dental office does everything from designing the plan, crafting legal documents, contacting patients monthly for collections and renewals, maintaining financial records of transactions, maintaining renewal dates. Administering this plan is possible but requires significant startup costs, time and labor to administer.              Option 2 : Contract with a dental membership administrator. There are many companies offering services and the level of service varies greatly. Some offer dental practices a wo

The Nest Egg is a savings vehicle that allows patients with a subscription using the Cirrus Dental platform to afford the care they need or want when they want it.  Let’s face it, when patients need to come up with the money to pay for a surprise dental bill, many will try to avoid or delay the needed treatment. Studies have shown that patients with available funding sources receive more dental care in any given year. With that knowledge, Cirrus created the Nest Egg to be a part of the subscriptions dental offices offer to their patients. The Nest Egg is set aside from the monthly subscription the patient pays every month. Unlike traditional insurance, if the patient doesn’t use the Nest Egg, the funds never expire and if the patient moves away and no longer has a subscription using the Cirrus platform, the money is refunded.  There are no restrictions on using the Nest Egg for dental care. Unlike traditional dental insurance, there are no deductibles or percentages to con