I
often get asked many questions over and over again during my lectures, events or practice workshops. Be sure to keep up
to date on my blog for periodic posts that will try to address some of
these questions to hopefully help you in being more successful in your
practice.
Q: Why would you not put months of treatment on the fee quote or contract?
A:
We do not want our patients to associate their financial arrangements
with how long they are in treatment. This plays into effect
significantly if you are providing Accelerated orthodontics, especially.
Our treatment fees are based on: complexity of treatment, appliances
used and results expected. When we associate our treatment fees with
financial arrangements, patients might feel they are owed money back if
you complete treatment faster. I educate our patients that as a courtesy
to them, doctor offers a zero percent in-house financing where we can
spread your monthly payments out ‘X’ amount of months (I always go a few
months shorter than the estimated months in treatment). We still inform
the patients how long the estimated treatment time is, however, I just
do not put it directly on the contract itself.
If you have any questions send me an email or reach out to me via phone. I would look forward to hearing from you.
Michelle Shimmin
CEO, Lecturer & Practice Consultant
