An orthodontist can provide a fair fee schedule while still making maximum profits for their practice. Remember that there are several pricing strategies for orthodontic practice, making it important to incorporate the right one.
In this way, you can rest assured that the strategy and psychology of pricing your practice implements can improve its bottom lines. Even better, the pricing strategy that is appealing to your patients can ensure that you have patients that use your services regularly. This article discusses how you can establish the right pricing strategy for your orthodontic practice.
Market pricing
The marketing pricing strategy requires you to find out other local orthodontic practices’ fees structures to help you establish your fees. You can do this by asking second opinion seekers about other orthodontics or even ask your friend to visit your competitors to learn their prices.
Many consultants like the secret shop approach as it can help you get competitive information. It is sometimes a good idea to use your competitor to have an insight into their practice, especially if you want to launch your business.
Two-phase pricing
Two-phase is another great pricing strategy that you can use for your orthodontic practice. The best way to assess this strategy is to determine the number of patients’ visits needed to treat them in two phases compared to complete treatment. When you do this, you can then calculate the income you generate per visit. You can use this to create the pricing strategy for your orthodontic practice.
Medical pricing
There are usually two pricing strategies under the medical model. The first strategy assumes that each patient gets a discount. Ideally, you can set your orthodontic fee high, though no patients can pay this fee. You can also accept all insurers and pass the discounts to the patients. Alternatively, you can offer a cash discount of between 10 and 15 percent, high discounts for family members, and immediate starts.
The other strategy is to set a price for your services just below the next expensive option. This means that you can get a lower price to close a missing tooth utilizing temporary anchorage devices than using an implant. Because space closure tends to prevent future crown replacement, you can set a higher fee for children.
Also, if people believe that treatment is more valuable when you do it quickly, then you can charge more for some services that can be completed fast. But this strategy needs to position your orthodontic practice as a high-quality service.
One price fits all
One price fits all is considered to be a traditional strategy that involves creating one price for adults and one for child patients. Many insurance companies prefer this fee structure because the easier cases can subsidize the other ones. However, there is a good chance that your competitors can attract simpler cases.
If you decide to lower your prices to stay competitive, then the harder cases can eat away the profits. Also, as your orthodontic practice grows, the adult referrals can get more complex, requiring you to increase the adult fee.