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The cost of healthcare in the UK is rising. [1, 2, 3] Now more than ever, adopting patient finance solutions to increase treatment accessibility and affordability is paramount. Your practice stays competitive and ahead of the curve.
One of the core ways medical professionals can ensure trust and patient-centric care remain the focus is to opt for fair, transparent and ethical finance options. Here’s what you need to consider, with all the jargon broken down into actionable steps for your practice.
Let’s take the example of Sophie, 32, who has a treatment plan of £4,500 including clear aligners, whitening and composite bonding. Although spreading this cost over a 36 month period comes with interest, she personally feels better able to manage much smaller monthly payments and therefore has a stronger sense of control over her financial health.
Instead of £4,500 gone from Sophie’s savings there and then, a finance option has created a more positive patient experience, leading to better retention and potentially even word-of-mouth for the practice.
The most immediate benefit to patients is accessing high value treatments without the upfront financial shock. More manageable instalments over a (longer) period of time can also deflate financial stress.
For millennials and generation Z in particular who grew up alongside the 2008 financial crisis, followed by a pandemic and subsequent rising costs of living, purchasing on finance is not only more and more sustainable, but preferable.
Unsurprisingly, almost 7 in 10 have used buy now, pay later services at some point; that’s 69% of Millennials (aged 24-42) and 68% of Gen Z (aged 18-23). [4]
The trend is climbing, and not just among young people.
As of 2024, 50% of UK adults had made a purchase using buy now, pay later services at some point, approximately 26.4 million people. This is up from 36% at the start of 2023. [4]
The majority of practices I speak with have their own processes for patients who prefer to split the cost of their high value treatment over time. Much of this involves mutual trust, chasing up patients (which can be time-consuming), and adds extra administration for small teams.
But hey, if it’s not broken, why fix it?
Well, getting ahead of the curve to invest in finance for your patients could be the first step to upgrade your practice in alignment with increasing patient demand for finance options, and meet growing demand for finance options.
One of the most sustainable benefits for practices is the guarantee of receiving the treatment payment upfront (minus any interest).
Cash is king, and finance has the potential to transform certain historic processes that don’t favour cashflow into a more steady, streamlined process. What’s more, the need to manually chase payments from patients is gone, so your team can concentrate on patient care.
It’s a win, win.
Your practice receives timely payments for treatments while enabling patients to spread the cost over manageable installments.
“I’m a dentist, not a banker”.
If I had £1 for every dentist who has told me this, I’d be a millionaire and might invest in a full set of dentures just for the sake of it.
Joking aside, choosing a finance partner is important.
There are many considerations to weigh up, and in the interest of sustaining exceptional patient care, it is important to do your homework on how much your finance provider is committed to ethical lending.
The following criteria should be considered.
Finally, ensure your financial provider doesn’t have predatory lending practices, and always verify their reputation in the market by scanning for media coverage and speaking with other practices who also offer finance. Google is your best friend.
Traditionally, if a practice wanted to offer finance independently, they would have to register with the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). Laborious (as it should be), this process can take months, often requires a lot of paperwork, and burdens the practice with annual fees into the hundreds.
Hence, a simpler option is to outsource finance options for patients.
At Practi, we go one step further by integrating finance solutions into the patient experience.
We focus on case acceptance via educational content to empower patients to make more informed decisions, and via intelligent patient insights which enables practices to understand why patients might not be following through on their high value treatments.
Patients feel more empowered to take out finance because a/ they understand more fully what their treatment entails and b/ the transparency around finance ensures they can make an informed decision.
But money talk isn’t always easy.
Consider the “TTEE framework” when integrating finance into your practice.
TTEE: Technology, Training, Education, Ethical
Patient finance solutions increase accessibility, enhance patient satisfaction, and contribute to ethical patient care. I hope this guide has been useful to supporting your patient finance journey.
If implementing finance into your practice sounds like something you might be interested in, feel free to book an introductory call with any of our team via the following link.