Patient finance for dental treatment - Advantages of the Extended Payment Scheme

Why offer finance for dental treatment ?
With the growth of cosmetic and private orthodontic treatment, many clients prefer to budget for their care. By offering finance you can increase treatment uptake, improve profitability and benefit from a regular monthly income. This type of extended payment has been found to be particularly useful for orthodontic treatment.

How the extended payment scheme works
With this scheme, the client pays off the loan over 12, 18, 24, 36 or 48 months. The payments are passed on to the clinic monthly. The dental finance is provided to the client 'interest free' and the practics pays the subsidy which is £4 per month. Here is a typical example where an orthodontic clinic takes 20% deposit.

£3000 treatment, £600 deposit				Total	Monthly	Clinic cost as
				cost	patient	percentage
Loan	£2,400		Months	to clinic	repayment	of £2.4k
Monthly charge	£4		12	£48	£200	2%
			18	£72	£133.33	3%

Note that the patient pays a £10 set up fee.

Why choose extended payment rather than a loan
With a traditional treatment loan, the money is borrowed from a credit company and the clinic pays some or all of the interest. This means that the clinic may have to pay a charge of 10% or more for longer-term loans. If your client already receives a dental plan or FACEplan discount, then the additional cost of a traditional loan can make finance too expensive.

The recent tightening up of credit has led to credit companies declining a higher proportion of treatment loans. With the extended payment plan, you can decide who to accept; no one knows your clients better than you do.

Treatment finance for medical skin spa
You can use the Extended Payment scheme for medical skin treatments such as botox, dermal fillers, chemical peels, Scultra and IPL.

Deposit
It is recommended to take a deposit of about 20% of the treatment cost, but this is completely up to the clinician.

Credit check
Upon receipt of the application, CODEplan can perform a credit check at your request for £5, and report the results to the clinic, enabling you to make an informed decision. The cost of the credit check will not be passed on to you. If you decide to go ahead with finance, a Consumer Credit Agreement will be forwarded by email, fax or post.

Debts
It has been found that dental patient finance has a very low risk of non-payment, so long as the client has a good credit profile and the treatment has been satisfactorily completed.

Please note that where the monthly payment cannot be collected, CODEplan is not responsible for the client's debt as the agreement is between the clinic and the client.

CODEplan tailor-made dental plans and patient finance
Every practice is different and every dentist prefers to work in their own way. CODEplan offers a bespoke solution to suit your individual needs.

Through our consultants you will benefit from the extensive experience of the CODE team who have been supporting dental practice owners for over 30 years. Our consultants will develop a strategy that reflects your aspirations and requirements and help to set up and promote your plan to your patients. Our service gives real value for money by providing all-inclusive marketing, management and consultancy support. The administration fees are just £1.10 per adult and 50p per child with optional dental accident emergency and out of hours insurance. Administration fees are held until 2010.

• The client completes a simple application form
• The application details are communicated to CODEplan by phone, fax or email
• If requested CODEplan will perform a credit check with Experian
  The results of the check will be sent to the clinic, usually within the hour
• If a credit check was required, the practitioner confirms the loan
• A consumer credit agreement is sent to the clinic for signature by the client, for return to CODEplan
• The monthly direct debit is set up, a letter is sent to the client, and the initial collection is taken on the 1st of the following month. Note that it takes a minimum of 10 days to process the first direct debit so any agreements received after the 20th of the month will not be started until 4-5 weeks later
• The monthly payment less the subsidy of £4 is paid into the practitioner's bank account on or around the 15th of the month, full reports are sent to the clinic by email or post

CALL 01409 255551 to find out more about CODEplan Extended Payment Plan and other patient finance options