{"id":128,"date":"2019-10-21T15:01:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T15:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tntdental.com\/blog\/?p=128"},"modified":"2019-10-21T22:06:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T22:06:52","slug":"leveraging-dental-insurance-to-get-more-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tntdental.com\/blog\/leveraging-dental-insurance-to-get-more-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Leveraging Dental Insurance to Get More Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In our latest blog post from our series, How to Get Dental Patient Referrals & Grow Your Practice<\/a>,<\/em> we discussed how to maximize the patient experience and increase your dental patient referrals.<\/p>\n

After you have honed your referral marketing tactics, you need to turn your attention to dental insurance<\/strong>: the next best way to increase your website traffic. Dental insurance is more important to patients now than it ever has been, and ensuring your office policies are clear, concise and easy-to-understand is very important. Maximizing the growth of your dental practice depends on it!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How Dental Insurance Drives Different Traffic to Your Site<\/h2>\n

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Either folks fall in the bucket of the 50% of individuals who have dental insurance, or into the bucket of the 50% that do not carry coverage, plain and simple. How you present yourself to both groups can make or break your business, but there\u2019s more to it than that.<\/p>\n

Say you partner with some insurance companies; we all know this means you\u2019re an in-network provider. But what about the ones you don\u2019t partner with? You\u2019re now also an out-of-network provider, so that begs the question, how do you capitalize on that?<\/p>\n

Out-of-Network Doesn\u2019t Mean Out of Sight, Out of Mind<\/h2>\n

Out-of-network doesn\u2019t equate to out of business in terms of new patients. It just means you have to be a bit more creative to attract those patients and get them in the door.<\/p>\n

Online & Offline Marketing is Key<\/h3>\n

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You\u2019ll need to aggressively market to your patient population that falls out-of-network. Get creative and start employing some of the tactics we\u2019ve already discussed in our series to get your name out there.<\/p>\n

Make Yourself Dental Insurance Friendly<\/h3>\n

Even if you\u2019re not in-network doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t be \u201cinsurance friendly.\u201d You can still treat patients on plans where you fall out-of-network, but rather than bill through the network, you\u2019re billing the patient. Just think of it this way, you\u2019re working for the patient, and not the insurance company. To get in someone\u2019s good graces and convince them to use you versus an in-network provider, you need to think about your patient experience that we talked about in our last post. Again, out-of-network doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t see those patients. Do you really want to turn your back on 50% of the population?<\/p>\n

Are You In-Network with Dental Insurance? Show It!<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re paying to be in-network, you want to make sure you can be found! As an in-network provider, you\u2019re paying a 25% to 30% fee just to be in-network (consider this a marketing fee), so of course, you want to get that benefit in the form of new patients.<\/p>\n

People care about their dentist being an in-network provider; studies have shown it has increasingly become more important to patients through the years.<\/p>\n

Below are some ways to make sure you capitalize on your investment:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Detail on Your Website<\/h3>\n

\"custom People are turning to the internet to find out which dentists accept their insurance. So, what better way to take advantage of that than putting detailed insurance content on your website? That way, you can be searched when people are typing \u201cdentists who use (insert insurance provider)\u201d in their Google search bar. Gone are the days of people using a network directory on the insurance provider\u2019s website, so you want to make sure you can be found online.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Forget Partnerships<\/h3>\n

\"handshakeTake advantage of your in-network status and partner at a major health provider in your area. Don\u2019t be afraid to go to a local company that offers the insurance where you\u2019re in-network and talk with their HR department, discussing how you can help them. The key for you to remember is awareness! That\u2019s all you need to spark interest around your practice.<\/p>\n

You can set aside time to go to that company\u2019s headquarters and provide free dental health screenings. This can pay off by:<\/p>\n