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Patient Attraction Episode 1132
In September 2017, dentists across Washington state had a huge wake-up call, and it wasn’t a pleasant one. Those dentists were members of Delta Dental of Washington, and they met to vote on amending the bylaws of Delta Dental. The vote was overwhelmingly one-sided, but the aftermath was even more one-sided. And not good for the future of dental insurance. After the break, I’ll tell you how to make the dental insurance industry pretty much irrelevant to your practice.
– I’m Colin Receveur.
– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast™.
– It’s no secret that Delta Dental is basically the 800-pound gorilla of dental insurance.
– And not only does an 800-pound gorilla sit wherever it wants, it pretty much does whatever it wants.
– That’s what Delta Dental of Washington’s dentists found out last September.
– Those dentists closed up shop to hold a vote on amending Delta’s bylaws.
– The goal of the vote was to force Delta to be more transparent in its operations …
– And to be more patient-focused …
– And to be more responsive to the Washington state member dentists.
– The outcome of the vote was never in doubt, with more than 9 out of 10 dentists voting to confirm the changes.
– That’s a landslide and a half margin of victory.
– Unfortunately, Delta’s board of directors didn’t like those changes and vetoed almost all of them.
– Now, bear in mind that the board members each receive over a hundred thousand a year for part-time service.
– Nice work if you can get it, yes?
– And the CEO gets 2.75 million dollars a year.
– But the board was unwilling to limit administrative expenses to 6 percent.
– That would have left 94 percent for paying claims – basically the level that Delta bragged about in 2011.
– Delta’s board also didn’t like the idea of an independent review board to handle claim disputes.
– Let’s put it this way – for a nonprofit entity, Delta sure seems to be emphasizing profit.
– Of course, if you’ve had dealings with Delta and other dental insurers, that probably doesn’t come as a surprise.
– Which brings up the question of whether dental insurance is good for your practice.
– That might sound nuts.
– After all, don’t all dentists accept insurance?
– The short answer is no, not all.
– Some practices have made the decision to go insurance-free.
– And surprisingly, those practices generally seem to be doing fine.
– It’s possible to ditch dental insurance and actually make more money.
– But it takes a significant shift in your thinking about how to get new patients through your doors.
– You need better patients to say goodbye to dental insurance and make it stick.
– Better patients are those with the ability and the willingness to pay more for the right dentist.
– Those patients are around 30 percent of almost every market.
– They’re not motivated by low prices, specials, and discounts.
– So you have to shift your marketing approach to give them what they’re looking for.
– Dr. Thomas J. Feder of Belleville, Illinois, needed better patients, and he chose to work with SmartBox.
– Here’s what happened.
– “Our average case value has increased,” he says.
– “We get quite a few patients from our website, and people are coming in looking for dentures and implants.
– “Our practice is now overwhelming our dental lab.”
– Sounds like a good problem to have, yes?
– You can put your practice in position to ignore dental insurance, and thrive.
– Visit smartboxdentalmarketing.com and reserve your free Practice Discovery Session™.
– That’s free as in no cost, no obligation of any kind.
– We’ll show you a Patient Attraction System™ that can double or even triple your practice.
– And later, you’ll receive your free, completely personalized Patient Attraction Roadmap™.
– Invest a small amount of your time to learn how to ditch Delta Dental for good.
– Join me for our next podcast.
– Until then, keep moving forward.