Finances

Patient Financing: Close the Gap Between Cost and Care

By Stuart J. Thomas, OD,
and Ellen Byrum-Goad, LDO

May 13, 2015

SYNOPSIS

Offering patient financing helps your patients to fulfill their treatment plans with the optical goods you prescribe.

ACTION POINTS

PROVIDE EYEWEAR FOR WHOLE FAMILY. Parents can make monthly payments for their own eyewear, as well as that of their children, ensuring the whole family is provided for.

INCREASE PURCHASE OF TASK-SPECIFIC EYEWEAR. Help patients purchase products like prescription sunwear and sports eyewear.
HELP SENIORS GET CARE & PRODUCTS. Patient financing helps seniors keep within their budget by having the ability to space out payments.

Offering patients the option to pay with financing for our products and services gives them another way to get their needs met. We have a way to help ensure patients are able to follow our prescriptions, and do what is best for their eyes and comfort. The financing option we use, CareCredit, also enables us to grow our practice and to grow our optical, as more patients decide to visit us and make a purchase, thanks to the ability to make monthly payments instead of paying for it all at once. Five percent of our patients use CareCredit to pay for the services and products they purchase from us.

Provide Eyewear for Whole Family

Many times our patients use their CareCredit to purchase eyewear for not just themselves, but the whole family. They don’t hesitate to upgrade to premium AR and Transitions on their child’s glasses, whereas if they have to pay it all out of pocketupfront, they are more likely not to purchase premium frames and lens treatments for their children.

The CareCredit logo is displayed on Dr. Thomas’s and Ellen Byrum-Goad’s practice web site for patients to see. They say the key to success at offering patient financing is educating your staff, who then, in turn, can educate patients, who may be curious about it.

Increase Patients’ Purchase of Task-Specific Eyewear

We see more people use CareCredit for second pairs of sunglasses or task-specific glasses, such as those for computer use or hobbies like playing music.

Giving patients the CareCredit option has helped us toincrease oursecond- and third-pair sales, as well as annual supplies of contact lenses. Most of our patient base is now wearing daily disposable contact lenses. There is a pretty steep price tag on those, but purchasing an annual supply of daily disposable contacts is much more palatable with special financing options available.

Eliminate Buyer Hesitation

Patients using CareCredit may hesitate much less when making purchasing decisions on eyewear, sunwear, annual supplies of contact lenses and medical testing. Patients are focused on the eyewear needs that will improve their lives, rather than on whether they can afford to pay for all of it at one time.

Gain Efficient Reimbursement

Reimbursement from CareCredit happens within two days via electronic funds transfer. The explanation of payment is easy to read and follow. In the four years that we have accepted CareCredit, we have been outstandingly pleased with customer service and the ease withwhich we are able to operate and assist our patients to take care of their every visual need.

Help Patients Get the Products They Need

We recently had two patients who happen to be glaucoma patients, and are not yet eligible for Medicare. They were having a hard time meeting their deductibles at the beginning of the year. With CareCredit, they were able to do all their testing, which gave them great peace of mind.

Train Staff on Patient Financing

CareCredit offers an online training class, which we require each of our employees to complete. This course greatly improves the ease with which they are able to speak about CareCredit.They learn how to present patient financing, and how to help patients apply for a CareCredit card in our office, including how to explain the benefits and requirements of the card.

Having a staff that fully understands CareCredit is important because patient education is the key to successfully offering patient financing. You have to talk about it to patients! We have CareCredit point-of-sale materials, from brochures to window signage, throughout the office, but the main way to educate patients about the patient financing option is to repeatedly tell them about it. Many patients have CareCredit, but don’t realize they can use it in our office. Our staff talks to everyone about CareCredit as a patient payment option.

Stuart J. Thomas, OD, is the owner of Thomas Eye Center in Athens, Ga. Ellen Byrum-Goad, LDO, is practice manager. To contact: Ellen.Goad@thomaseyecenter.com

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