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How Text-Based Payments Can
Transform Your Dental Practice

by Kristy Stiefvater

Over recent years, the trend of adopting new technologies and digital modes of operation has taken the dental industry by storm – and for good reason. When thinking about this trend, it’s fairly easy to point out to the big-ticket, complex game-changers like the implementation of 3-D printing for materials in dental offices. While these are great developments that loudly speak to the modernity of the dental industry, it’s also important to keep in mind that smaller changes oriented towards patient experience can be just as much of a game-changer for your dental business.

Among the most useful of these small, yet transformative changes is the implementation of a text-based payment system. Dental patients, just like anyone else using a service, expect convenience, safety, and relative ease from their providers. Unlike cumbersome web portals, e-mail, and physical payments, payment by text offers an easy and instantaneous way for patients to access and understand their payment dues.

Additionally, text-based payment systems help dental practices get their accounts receivable under control by collecting due payments sooner than usual. As opposed to waiting for patients to see an e-mail hours later or to log onto a web portal, dental practices can bill patients simply by sending a text, ensuring that patients see them right away at some point during their 5-hour-per-day average phone screen time. With a shortened billing cycle, dental practices can more quickly and easily identify delinquent accounts or move forward with firmer action to avoid diminishing value of service provision.

It’s not uncommon for patients to cancel appointments while in the office due to a misunderstanding of their financial responsibilities. Text-based payment systems allow scheduling coordinators to send treatment plans and payment requests to patients via text. This streamlines the workload of the coordinator and empowers patients with more time and convenience to help them understand their financial responsibilities in advance of the appointment instead of while they are in the office.

For more information on how text-based payments can improve your dental practice, please visit: https://www.dentaleconomics.com/money/article/14262386/3-reasons-to-implement-payment-by-text-in-your-dental-practice-today

For more insights into the dental industry and advice on how you can succeed within it, please visit: https://www.anbfc.bank/dental

Dorfman, Gina DDS (2022). “3 reasons to implement payment by text in your dental practice today” [Article]. 12 May, 2022. Dental Economics. https://www.dentaleconomics.com/money/article/14262386/3-reasons-to-implement-payment-by-text-in-your-dental-practice-today [Accessed August 10, 2022]