This week Kathryn O’Brien speaks with Richard Formoe, CRO of QuickFee about denture financing solutions. Dental practices routinely deal with patients who need dental work but delay treatment due to cost. In response, QuickFee launched a service called QuickFee Installments – essentially a “buy now, pay later” payment platform that pays the dental office upfront while allowing patients to spread their payments out in four interest-free installments. Patients pay the installments using their credit cards, which means conventional credit checks and approvals aren’t needed.
Please note NextSmileDental.com has no financial or any other relationship with QuickFee.
Tell us a little bit about your business and how it helps other companies, in particular how it would benefit dental practices?
QuickFee arrived in the dental industry after building a highly respected digital payment, and lending business across the world’s leading accounting and law firms. As you may know, every dental office has a CPA and when we kept getting phone calls from our accounting firms asking if their Dental clients could use our service, we knew we had to start serving them.
Today, we leverage the exceptional reputation we earned serving professional service firms of all sizes and specialties. QuickFee Installments offers an easy-to-use “buy now, pay later” solution that dental practices can deploy and patients can readily adopt. QuickFee Installments is a responsible alternative to financing that also ensures the practice is paid upfront the next day.
How did you get started? Were you always in the finance industry?
We were founded in 2009 with the mission to ensure clients of accounting firms had the flexibility to pay their invoices over monthly payments, and accountants always got paid on time. We are now a publicly-traded financial technology company that has funded more than $300 million in flexible payment plans for professional service clients in the U.S. and Australia.
Could you tell us a bit about how QuickFee helps smaller dental practices in particular?
QuickFee offers a brand new, responsible alternative to financing in which your patient doesn’t have to enter into any new debt. This is a great addition to every dental practice because it provides them another powerful customer payment experience, while also ensuring the practice is paid in full, right away boosting their cashflow confidence.
Do you work with companies globally?
Yes, QuickFee has a global presence with some of the biggest, most respected professional services firms in the world. We aim to be as accessible as possible, and in as many countries as possible.
Do you have a customer care team that maintains relationships with both the dental firm and patients to ensure payments run smoothly through your system?
Yes. QuickFee Installments was made to be seamless, but the occasional question or request from a customer/client/patient does come about. Our client success team is available to assist dental practices and their patients to ensure a smooth onboarding experience and quick settlement to a practice’s bank.
Do you have any tips for firms on maintaining good business/patient relationships when there are financial difficulties or late payments involved?
Our research into the dental industry, as well as the feedback we have been given, has told us many stories. Patients have told us that the core of every practice/patient relationship is providing a comfortable payment environment. Every patient’s financial situation is different and they don’t want to have to worry if they can receive the healthcare they deserve because they may not qualify for financing, or they don’t want to spend their savings to get the care. Sadly, most Americans do not have dental insurance, so dental work is often paid out-of-pocket. Patients often experience physical pain at the dentist, so there’s no need to inflict financial pain as well.
Given the pandemic, do you believe more dental companies will begin operating a payment installments system?
The pandemic drove an economic recession which in turn is accelerating many patients to look for buy now pay later options, but the demand for BNPL has consistently grown for some time- the dental industry is just getting a late start.
Have you noticed a change in how dental and healthcare customers are handling payments since the start of the COVID pandemic?
The most important realization is that dental practices have been placed in scramble mode trying to understand digital payments during covid because they have traditionally been behind on offering digital payments. The broader business market/world has steadily marched toward digital payments while the dental industry has stood firm on old-fashioned paper billing, Filling charts, etc. Now, these same practices are in a mad dash to catch up with the times and are quickly realizing the cost savings that come with it.
Do you think that people would be more likely to address their medical and dental issues if there were reasonable payment plans involved?
It’s no secret that an alarming amount of Americans avoid dental care because of the cost. It’s also widely known that delayed dental care can cost the patients 2-3 times more in the future as their condition worsens. QuickFee Installments helps patients avoid delayed treatment without the need to enter into a new, expensive financing plan.
How important do you think it is that dental practices make the finance options clear to patients before the treatment is agreed upon?
Transparency is paramount to any relationship whether it be business or professional. The same goes for your patients’ payment experience. No matter who walks in your door, or needs dental care, they should feel comfortable that you have a solution financially to fit their budget and or fiscal needs.
Do you have any advice for anyone who might be looking to start a dental or healthcare business during the pandemic, and how they can maintain a good cash flow and relationship with patients?
Most Americans do not have dental insurance, so every visit is out-of-pocket. Dental practices are expensive to maintain and grow. There exists an imbalance that can disenfranchise the patient and hobble the practice. A new healthcare/dental practice should seek to attain a balance between these two forces by ensuring that patients have a selection of payment solutions that fit their financial status. Doing so can foster goodwill between patient and practitioner, ensuring a good reputation among the community while the payment solutions foster a positive cash flow to the practice. Good cash flow ensures that the practice obtains the latest technologies and retains the best staff, thereby perpetuating the cycle.