Why Communicating Insurance Information With New Patients Confidently Is Important
When a consumer is actively looking for a new dental practice, they’re commonly going to seek a practice that is in-network or one that accepts their insurance. Being able to speak to the consumer and engaging with them to build rapport will give you the opportunity to capture them as a patient.
When calling in to schedule an appointment with a practice they’ve never been to before, dental insurance may be a major concern to the potential patient. By discussing best practices you’ll be able to redirect insurance calls in order to take the focus off of the cost of treatment and place it back on the value your practice has to offer.
Establishing a Successful Process
Setting Up For Success
Prior to speaking with new patients, ensure that all call handlers have completed their onboarding training as well as any training with SMC National. When call handlers are not properly trained, they lack the confidence needed in order to successfully lead a potential new patient to schedule an appointment.
Call handlers should be equipped with a reference sheet, recommended verbiage examples and should not be distracted when taking potential new patient calls.
What Is Needed For Success
A Strong Greeting
- Make sure every call handler knows the routine greeting that is to be used across the office. This should establish consistency.
- “Thank you for calling XYZ Dental, this is (your name), how can I help you today?”
- Have a reference sheet available for call handlers to utilize while redirecting their call.
- This should help them know what questions to ask next in order to control the call.
- “Who can we thank for referring you to our practice?”
- “What prompted your call, what kind of appointment are you looking for?”
- “Is there an insurance you’d like us to courtesy bill for you?”
- “Are there any other family members you would like to schedule for?”
Rapport Building
- Have questions readily available in order to redirect calls after answering the phone.
- Do not discuss pricing or insurance questions with potential new patients prior to building rapport.
Conversation Skills
- During phone training, your team members are provided verbiage examples they can utilize while speaking with potential new patients.
- Poor Conversation Skills = Poor Conversion Skills
Importance of Redirect Questions
When a new patient calls in to schedule an appointment, most of the time they’re going to ask you a question right after you greet them. One of those questions may be “Do you accept this insurance” and it’s critical that team members know how to handle this question. When patient’s ask about insurance, it’s not necessarily about what we say rather than how we deliver it. Here’s two examples:
Example 1:
Call Handler: Thank you for calling XYZ Dental, this is Stacey. How can I assist you today?
Patient: Do you accept Metlife insurance?
Call Handler: Unfortunately, we’re not in network with Metlife.
Patient: Oh, alright. I guess I’ll call someone else.
Call Handler: Okay, well give us a call if you change your mind!
Example 2:
Call Handler: Thank you for calling XYZ Dental, this is Stacey. How can I assist you today?
Patient: Do you accept Metlife insurance?
Call Handler: Great question! Let me look into that for you. While I’m checking, who do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?
Patient: My name is Tom.
Call Handler: Thank you so much Tom, it’s great to meet you! And who can we thank for referring you to our practice?
Patient: I just saw you online.
Call handler: That’s great, did you happen to see our reviews? We’re a #1 rated dentist in our area!
Patient: No, I didn’t. I’ll have to go take a look at them.
Call Handler: You sure will, we just love our patients!
Alright Tom, now as far as your insurance goes, I’m seeing here that we have quite a few patients who utilize their Metlife insurance policy in our office. We’re not considered in-network, but we can absolutely courtesy bill to them on your behalf!
Let’s go ahead and get you scheduled for your new patient exam with the doctor and I’ll reach out to your insurance company to get any information we need.
I’ve got an opening today at 3 or tomorrow at 11, which would you prefer?
Patient: Tomorrow at 11 sounds great!
When we reflect on these examples, we can see that Stacey was able to confidently lead Tom to an appointment in example #2. In the first example, there was no rapport building. Stacey didn’t try to help Tom solve his problem so he’s going to call someone else who will. Most marketing patients will call between 4-5 various offices before deciding to schedule with one. Is your team taking the patient experience to the next level?
Importance of Building Rapport
Think of a time that you called in to make an appointment somewhere recently. Maybe it was for your daughter’s eye glasses appointment. Maybe it was for your routine maintenance oil change. Maybe it was a call to the vet to find Cujo a new veterinary office. When you call various places as a consumer, there’s a certain standard that you expect the team member on the other end of the phone to uphold. If the call handler has a mean tone and sounds like they’re having the worst day of their lives, would you schedule an appointment? Probably not.
Consumers don’t want to speak to Dental Scheduling Robot #592. They want to speak with the team members who are in the practice and are going to know them when they come in for their appointment. By having personal conversations and building rapport with potential new patients, we create a patient experience that is personable and memorable. When your call handlers are friendly and welcoming, patient’s are enticed to schedule an appointment.
Insurance Verbiage Examples
- We absolutely can courtesy bill your insurance for you! Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?
- Oh, definitely! We have a bunch of patient’s who utilize (INSURANCE) here in our office. Let’s go ahead and get you scheduled!
- That is such a great question! We have an insurance coordinator here who is so amazing working with various dental insurances. Let’s go ahead and get you scheduled for your appointment. I’ll pass along all of your insurance info to the coordinator and they’ll be able to complete a complimentary benefits check for you prior to your appointment! I’ve got an opening today at three or tomorrow at eleven, which would you prefer?
- Unfortunately, I’m not sure of the answer to that right off the top of my head, but the good news is we can absolutely reserve you an appointment as our schedule fills up quickly and I’ll reach out to your insurance company in order to complete a complimentary benefits check prior to your appointment!
Rapport Building Verbiage Examples
- Do you prefer to be called [FIRST NAME] OR [MR. OR MRS. X]
- What’s the weather like where you are today?
- Are you originally from [CITY]?
- What I will do for you now is [LET PATIENT KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING FOR THEM]
- This will be fixed for you by [ACCURATE DEADLINE], [PATIENT NAME].
- My name is [NAME], if you need anything at all please feel free to give me a call.
Out of Network
When informing new patient’s that your office doesn’t participate with their insurance, the biggest thing to keep in mind is your tone and confidence. Be sure to leave out any dental lingo to communicate with the patient in a way they’re sure to understand. Also, be sure to deliver any negative news with positive news in tow. Be sure to avoid negative phrases, especially at the very beginning of the conversation.
While the conversion rate on calls is very low when you’re not in network with a patient’s insurance, it’s important to understand why you should still ensure the patient is aware of all options available to them in your practice.
Consider Medicaid/Medicare as an example – while you may not be in network with these insurance policies, the offices who do accept them tend to book out rather far and the patient may not want to wait that long to see a dentist. What if they’re in pain? By mentioning any call-to-actions that are running in your practice, the patient may opt to be a self-pay patient and schedule an appointment.
Conclusion
The most important thing to remember when speaking with a potential new patient is that this is the first impression of your practice. Utilize this time to build rapport with the caller by actively listening, asking valuable questions and offering your next available appointment. Insurance is not the priority, getting the patient access to the dental care they need is!
