Should Your Dental Practice Go Insurance-Free? The Questions to Ask First | Steven Anderson
June 20, 2023 · 49 min
Costs are up, interest rates are up, and insurance companies keep cutting reimbursement.
Show notes
Costs are up, interest rates are up, and insurance companies keep cutting reimbursement. Should you drop a plan or go fully fee-for-service? Steven Anderson, founder of Total Patient Service Institute and the Crown Council, says there's no single answer, only the right questions: what makes your practice different, how much of your patient base a plan covers, and how your marketing has to change. He also explains why fear of rejection leads to underdiagnosis in dentistry.
In this episode:
- Why so many practices are asking about going insurance-free right now
- First question: what makes your practice different?
- The one-third rule for dropping an insurance plan
- Marketing budgets: contracted vs. fee-for-service practices
- Every dentist and every patient has the freedom to choose
- The rural dentist who could go insurance-free and chose not to
- Why it's a decision you keep revisiting, not a one-time call
- "I hate the dentist": fear of rejection and underdiagnosis
- Is it selling? Showing patients the way to what they want
- Steve's own airway story and jaw surgery
- Free resource: Should You Be Insurance Free?
📰 Plus dental news from June 2023: Rhode Island moves toward a dental medical loss ratio, CDC and EPA concerns about fluoride levels in water, and ADA data on more dentists affiliating with DSOs.
Steven Anderson is the founder of Total Patient Service Institute and the Crown Council, and has coached dental practices across the country on case acceptance and patient service since the late 1980s. Get the free "Should You Be Insurance Free?" guide at https://totalpatientservice.com
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:57 News: Rhode Island and the medical loss ratio
2:57 News: fluoride levels, the CDC and the EPA
7:06 News: more dentists affiliating with DSOs
10:27 Meet Steven Anderson
13:14 Why everyone's asking about going insurance-free
17:03 Fee-for-service frustrations and the hygienist shortage
21:09 Steve's background in dentistry
25:29 First question: what makes you different?
27:36 The one-third rule for dropping a plan
29:04 Marketing budgets with and without insurance
30:11 Everyone has the freedom to choose
31:48 The rural dentist who stayed in network
34:15 Is high volume sustainable?
36:07 Why dentistry? Fear of rejection
39:30 "I hate the dentist" and underdiagnosis
43:36 Is it selling?
45:31 Steve's airway and jaw surgery story
49:58 Dentistry as front-line health care
51:40 Free resource: Should You Be Insurance Free?
53:15 Closing
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