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As a provider of vital chiropractic services, you want patients to receive the chiropractic care they need without being hindered by unaffordable costs. Certainly, you can price your services as reasonably as possible to allow the largest number of patients in need to receive them, but you also have your own bottom-line needs to consider. Offering a variety of chiropractic payment options can serve as a bridge between your patients’ financial considerations and your own.
By offering various payment options, you can make your chiropractic services more affordable and accessible to a broader array of patients in need, which has many benefits for your business, including:
- Growing your clientele
- Increasing client satisfaction and retention
- Providing more care
- Boosting your revenue and improving your cash flow
Self-pay Options
The most streamlined and straightforward options for chiropractic payments are self-pay options, where patients pay for services themselves instead of relying on third-party sources, such as insurance. When patients can utilize one of these options, it allows them a certain level of flexibility, privacy, and even affordability over most third-party payment alternatives.
It can also save patients valuable time in starting treatment, thereby relieving pain and discomfort and correcting spinal issues and injuries. Self-pay options also benefit your business, as they facilitate quicker, simpler, and more reliable payments. Fortunately, a variety of self-pay options, besides credit cards and checks, exist that can help both you and your clients reap these benefits.
Chiropractic Payment Plans
Payment plans enable patients to pay for chiropractic services in installments over time. Whether for regular, ongoing sessions, such as physical therapy, or individual treatments like ultrasound therapy or corrective exercises, chiropractic payment plans enable patients who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford chiropractic services to receive them. Financing chiropractic treatment helps patients manage their healthcare budgets while supporting them in pursuing the care they need without delay. If you choose, you can even tack on a small financing fee or interest charge, which would allow you to bring in some extra income for the same work as compensation for delaying full payment.
HSAs and FSAs
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts are two additional ways patients can avoid the significant and potentially prohibitive upfront costs associated with chiropractic treatment. With these accounts, patients can use pre-tax dollars to pay for qualifying healthcare expenses, including chiropractic care. Not only do they lower taxable income, but they also make out-of-pocket costs easier to manage.
One of the main differences between these two accounts is that FSAs are offered through your employer and HSAs are personal healthcare accounts you can set up through your high-deductible health plan (HDHP.) Invite patients to speak with their financial advisor to learn about all the other differences between HSAs and FSAs, including their associated benefits and risks.
CareCredit for Chiropractic
While it’s not tax-advantaged like an HSA or FSA, a CareCredit card allows you to pay for chiropractic services yourself using something akin to a healthcare credit card. CareCredit allows you to pay over time for services, including deductibles and co-pays not covered by insurance. CareCredit also frequently offers promotional financing options, such as zero-interest plans on specific amounts, if paid off in full by the end of a predetermined period.
Cash Payment Discounts
For patients unable to participate in any of these options, you can promote a per-session, cash-based chiropractic payment option that offers a discount on services for patients who pay in cash.
Offering specially-priced package plans is another option. When clients require multiple sessions to focus on specific treatments, providing a discount for booking them all as a package can make self-pay a viable option for clients who might not otherwise be able to cover those sessions individually out of pocket.
Third-party Payment Options
Medical Insurance
The ideal situation for most patients is if their medical insurance covers chiropractic care. In most cases, the out-of-pocket costs for insurance vs self-pay chiropractic care are much lower. However, there are still several factors to consider, such as the amount of related deductibles and co-pays for chiropractic treatment that you’ll still have to cover. Depending on the insurance plans, you may also have to account for out-of-network chiropractic costs and prior authorization requirements as well.
Patients on Medicare and healthcare programs for veterans such as the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) may also provide coverage for certain types or amounts of chiropractic care. However, patients who receive medical insurance should speak with their provider to determine what insurance coverage for chiropractic care they're eligible for.
When paying for chiropractic care with health insurance isn’t an option, here are some other chiropractic payment options to consider suggesting to your patients.
Other Third-party Payment Options
Additional payment options for your patients to consider may be available from external sources. For example, patients might be able to take advantage of:
- Community-based resources
- Bartering systems
- Government-backed programs
- Employer-sponsored programs
- Worker’s compensation insurance
Local health departments and non-profit organizations may provide additional support in paying for chiropractic services. For the benefit of your patients and your business, you can take it upon yourself to direct patients to such services in your area that would allow them to avail themselves of your chiropractic services.
You can even employ a comprehensive AI-powered chiropractic answering service to educate customers in all the details of your flexible chiropractic payment options, so that you can focus on providing the excellent chiropractic services you do.
Communication is Key
Navigating payment options for chiropractic services can be confusing for patients under any circumstances. Still, even more so when their minds are focused on relieving the pain and discomfort they’re experiencing, which is causing them to seek treatment in the first place. You can be the conduit that not only provides this relief but also helps patients explore the options available to them to cover the costs of receiving it.
The key to making your services available to the broadest number of patients in need in your area is to offer the widest possible array of chiropractic payment options. The key to making these plans work for you and your patients is effective communication. Your patients can only take advantage of these options if you inform them about them. Fortunately, an AI-powered business phone system can provide that information for you automatically, whether in a voicemail or a Missed call text back.
Chiropractic pricing transparency is paramount in ensuring that patients who want your services can receive them. With the right business phone system, integrating and streamlining all your communications with patients, you can be sure to provide it.
