AI: 00:00
Hi guys and welcome back to the Med spa growth and profitability podcast. I’m April Iannazzone and I am joined today by Melinda Kosareff who offers Patient Financing and Payment Plans.
Melinda’s from Denefits. Denefits is a company that you really want to check out. They offer an alternative to bringing in patients that might think they cannot afford your services, but really want them. So welcome Melinda.
MK: 00:27
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me today.
AI: 00:29
Oh, like I said, this is one of the calls that I’m excited about. Can you tell us a little bit more about Denefits Patient Financing and Payment Plans?
MK: 00:36
Absolutely.
So Denefits provides Patient Financing and Payment Plans for your patients. There’s no credit checks, which means everyone is approved.
It’s an amazing option to any practice that has a low percentage for financing. If you had to turn customers away, you’ll never have to do that anymore.
AI: 01:01
So can you tell us the type of practices that you deal with? I know you do a lot of different medical practices, but what are the main ones you work with?
MK: 01:12
So with Denefits, there isn’t one area of expertise that needs to use us. We can go do anything from medical spas and plastic surgery all the way to funeral homes.
Oh my goodness. With studios, everything you could think of, cell rejuvenation, dental practices, there is no limitation.
If you can accept a payment from a patient on a regular basis to cover your services, then you can use Denefits.
AI: 01:41
Wonderful. You know, most people think of Med spas or any aesthetic procedure as a luxury or something that is not necessary. So, if there’s something that the patient really wants to do and they come in to get a quote. Then they realize it’s going to cost 3, 5, $10,000.
That’s not even anywhere close to my budget. Maybe they don’t have the best credit. Obviously we know the practice wants to get the patient in. But what are the other benefits that the practices would really benefit from? Other than just not losing the patient?
MK: 02:24
Well, with Denefits, they have a lot of options. They have full control of their accounts.
They get to choose their treatment costs. How much of a down payment the patient needs to raise to accept them. They choose their interest rate. They choose the duration of the financing and they get to choose when they get the payments.
All of that’s in control by the practice and they are able to earn the revenue on the interests. Not only are they offering a lower payment to the patient at an extended period of time. They’re actually earning over that time as well. Which is really the best part.
AI: 03:03
Absolutely. What are some of the objections that practice owners or the practitioners come to you with? Where they’re like, oh, I’m not really sure if this is the right thing for us.
MK: 03:25
So the main concern or objective that anybody ever comes to us with is not receiving a lump sum upfront. Because it is a payment plan and a lot of practices want that lump sum.
Well that lump sum is essentially not real. If the patient doesn’t meet the terms of the credit that they receive based off that company. They’re charged at the end for whatever additional interest.
In addition to charging the patient. Therefore, you don’t have that objective because everything is done via payment plan. If they’re meeting to receive a lump sum at the beginning to cover any overhead, that’s where the payment comes in to play.They make their down payment with whatever method they want. Then they can go from there with a luxury item.
Surgery for example, most people that walk in, they don’t walk in with empty pockets. That’s plain and simple. So you have to determine what your conversation is with them. What’s a reasonable amount for that deposit payment? To meet the needs of both the practice and the patient.
AI: 04:44
Right. I know a lot of Med spas, when they first come to us looking to scale their business, they come with some cash flow issues. I could definitely see them coming to you with that objection.
However, when you set that down payment, you also make sure you cover exactly what the cost of that procedure is to you. Then ultimately you’re making more money long term. You’re not turning away a patients.
We know that once the patient comes in, they’re going to get repeat procedures. Or they’re coming in and they’re getting something else done or working on a different area.
So it’s really about building that longterm relationship with them and having that solution for them, which others probably don’t have.
I know you’re a little different than some of the other bigger names out there for patient financing. Can you tell us of the big ones? Care Credit, I mean it’s out there. It’s not a name that I can’t bring up.
There’s a big difference between the two of you. Can you let us know what that was?
MK: 05:56
Yes. Care Credit has a credit score rating and within that rating will determine how much interest they choose to charge and they choose the duration. Everything is done based off of Care Credits requirements.
The flexibility versus what benefits you in addition to the fact. At a certain degree they start to reduce the amount of financing that they offer. So the lower the credit rating, the less financing they provide.
AI: 06:32
Quick question that just popped in my mind. I know with Care Credit, the patient pays directly to the creditor or the bank. With your programs, they have to pay direct to the practice, is that correct?
MK: 06:48
No, actually it has done through our portal. When you sign up a patient, every practice I should say signs up with Denefits. They provide their banking details so that we can auto deposit directly into their bank account.
We’ve taken over all of the processing of the payments. Once you get to the payment portion, the patient has a few options on how they would like to make their payments. They can use a debit card. They can use a credit card if they choose to.
We also accept medical savings cards. If they have an FSA or HSA card, they can use that as an option for a payment as well.
AI: 07:27
Wow. Furthermore, what happens if the patient doesn’t pay? Is that something that the office has to go after or is that something you guys go after?
MK: 07:36
Not at all. That’s one of the benefits of using us as well. We take care of the collection side of everything. We reached out to the patient to work with them to ensure that their payments are made.
Also, the nice thing is that we guarantee the payment to the practice. So that means if they have met the criteria, either a 10 percent minimum down payment or the first automated payment, which is the scheduled pullman, that means it’s guaranteed to the practice.
If the patient misses a payment, we still make the payment to the practice. It does move the date a little bit. It’ll move it about 30 days while we work with the patient. Regardless, even if the patient doesn’t make their payment, we’re still going to make it to the practice.
AI: 08:21
Perfect. Is there any charge backs? If the patient doesn’t pay at all or if they just die. Or if the patient defaults completely. Like there’s no payments.
MK: 08:42
We will continue to work until it’s completed. It’s as a fantastic team of people that work behind the scenes to ensure that our patients and practices are taken care of.
If for any reason we’re not able to to meet those payments it’s okay because it’s still covers the payments. The only time we miss the payments is if for any reason the patient were to file a dispute with their bank. That’s the only time that payments stop and you’ll have to fight that dispute. That’s typical of anything as you know.
AI: 09:25
Also, on your website I saw that patients can find you online. They can sign up directly and see if they qualify on your website. Most do! How does that work? Do you have practices that are already in your database? As far as the practice goes?
MK: 09:44
Both actually and everybody is approved. If we don’t have a practice already in your area, we will actually find you a practice. Reach out to them and let them know we have a potential patient for them. We would like to offer them to go to that office and all they have to do is set up to use Denefits as a payment method. Easy as that.
AI: 10:11
Very cool. Now is there somebody from your team that will train the staff on how to offer this to their patients?
MK: 10:21
Yes, absolutely. Not only do they get webinars with us, they get a live training. Additionally, we will be providing videos on our website to show how easy it is to sign up. It really doesn’t take more than 20 to 30 minutes to learn how to use the system because it is very simple. We tried to make it as easy as possible so anybody can do it.
AI: 10:47
Very cool. From a marketing perspective, you could have a whole campaign launched where everybody gets approved for special financing options. It’s a little tricky with the facebook part of the ads. But, if we really worded correctly, this could be a huge way for you to get your services out there and get people in the door.
You don’t even have to cut your prices. You don’t have to do any kind of group on specials. Also, this could be your marketing campaign. So that’s very cool.
I know you say you approve everybody, but there has to be some people you don’t approve? Are there some walks in with no job. Do they have to put the 10 percent down and it will be approved?
MK: 11:49
They have 2 criteria to meet with the practice. They either need to do a 10 percent down payment or make their first scheduled payment upfront.
There are many people out there that don’t currently have jobs and it’s the way of the world now. However, a lot of people also received medical aid or assistance.
They receive unemployment. As long as I can show some sort of proof of income, no matter what it is, we don’t judge you based off of that. There is no judgment because we do understand life happens to everybody.
AI: 12:29
Wonderful. Is there any procedures that you will not cover or is it just depending on the practice?
MK: 12:38
It just depends on the practice. There’s no procedures and there’s no limit. Ultimately, I would say that we won’t finance an auto. Other than that, you’re good.
AI: 12:50
Perfect. If somebody wanted to start offering offering benefits in their practice, what’s the procedure for them to go through?
MK: 13:00
Really easy. All they have to do is reach out to us. We’ll take it from there. You can either sign up online or you can go ahead and contact us through our email or instant chat. Which is located online. Furthermore, you can just select the sign up now button where it says, are you a doctor?
AI: 13:21
Very good. Otherwise, is there anything else that you want our viewers to know about Denefits and about how you guys work?
MK: 13:33
With Denefits everything is easy. There’s no credit checks. You have guaranteed payments. There’s no setup base. There’s no monthly fees and you control your contract terms. Ultimately, there really is no losing when using Denefits.
AI: 13:48
In conclusion, it sounds like a no brainer. If you are hesitant, you could put a couple patients through and then decide, right? There’s no minimum amount of deals or anything like that?
MK: 14:01
No, there’s no minimum and no maximums. We make things as easy as possible for you.
Of course we want you to use this all the time. Why wouldn’t we, right? At the same time we want to make sure that whatever you’re doing, you feel comfortable.
We’re here every step of the way for everybody. It’s one of the features of being a somewhat small, larger company. You get to have the ability of personal assistance.
AI: 14:32
Perfect. One last question. Do you run into where an office is offering multiple different types of financing to their clients or is it kind of one and done?
MK: 14:46
No, a lot of offices actually provide multiple options. Every single one of those options require either a credit check. It’s going to hit them regardless with Denefits you had neither.
In reality, you can either just get it one and done with therapists or you can hit their credit every time. Which puts the data in their credit.
Sometimes it’s better to just not do that. You have a lot of people who are trying to buy homes or a car or whatever. They run into a situation where they don’t want their credit hit.
AI: 15:28
That’ll stop them from even applying or even wanting the financing. The reason I ask that is because if you do already offers some type of financing in your practice, this is definitely something you want to add.
I know a lot of Med spa owners that really didn’t think that it was something they could offer. They maybe started with one of the bigger companies. Finding they were turned down and it was more of a headache for them to keep trying to go through that process.
This is definitely something that you guys want to check out. Melinda, can you tell us the website?
MK: 16:14
www.denefits.com
AI: 16:17
Perfect. Also, I’m going to post it below in the show notes. Thank you so much for joining me today.
MK: 16:24
You’re very welcome. Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me and inviting me on your ship a day.
