Perhaps the hottest topic over the last week or so has been what happened to the patient financing company known as E-Z Pay Dental.  This topic is of grave concern to me since my career revolves around getting my clients to accept the fact that it is okay to use an outside financing firm for their patients.  Now this issue comes along to throw a proverbial wrench into the whole thing.  What’s a consultant to do?

First, let’s look at the real situation.  Here is what is going on to the best of my understanding.  I am basing my comments from my research at E-Z Pay and ADP as of July 31, 2006.

It appears that on June 21, 2005, Debbie Distler, CEO of E-Z Pay, entered into an agreement with Alternative Debt Portfolios, L.P. (ADP) to sell a specific portion of dental financing accounts.  ADP paid for the contracts between E-Z Pay and the dentist, so the patient’s payments will funnel through a company called Duvera, who is responsible for collecting the money (debiting the patient’s account or credit card,) to ADP.  Since ADP paid E-Z pay for these accounts up front, (and I’m assuming that part, but that is typically how these things go), the agreement was that E-Z pay would honor the contract with the dentist, paying as promised under the original terms, and not hold ADP responsible for any obligations to the dentists.  E-Z Pay was also supposed to notify all dentists whose accounts were purchased.Well, guess what.  They didn’t, not that it would have done any good.  But now it seems that E-Z Pay has run out of money, the patients are still obligated to pay in order to protect their credit, but who gets their money?  ADP.  Not you.  Needless to say, this does not bode well for outside financing. About three years ago, my husband and I heard of E-Z Pay Dental through another dental practice management consultant.  I checked them out, but did not like all of the terms and conditions.  It pays to do your research and read the fine print.  I remember that one of my issues with the company was that, at that time, there were several different plans for which your patient could be approved.  A representative of the company told me that because we practice in a rural area made up of mostly farmers and teachers, many of the plans that our patients were approved for would be with recourse.  I decided to not contract with this company.  Why should I when I currently had five other patient financing companies that I could do business with that were all non-recourse? Now, I’m not writing all of this just to say, “I told you so.”  Here is what I want you to know:IT IS STILL OKAY TO USE OUTSIDE FINANCING FIRMS FOR YOUR PATIENTS.  And this:  PLEASE DON’T GO BACK TO FINANCING YOUR PATIENTS’ TREATMENT YOURSELF!

Please, please, please don’t give up on using outside financing companies.  I have tried about 14 different companies over the past six years and almost all of them I have dropped or just stopped using for one reason or another except for Care Credit.  I am not a Care Credit rep nor do I own stock in the company.  (Although, now that I’ve had that thought . . .)My husband is still signed up with about five different companies, but the only one we use regularly is Care Credit.  Why?  Here’s my “off the top of my head” list:

1. They approve a majority of our patients
2. They are non-recourse
3. They offer several options over which I have control
4. They are extremely easy to work with
5. They provide face-to-face training or
6. You can call at any time and get someone friendly to talk with
7. When Capital One dropped them a couple of years ago to start their own system like Care Credit’s, they got right on it with a new bank and there was no hassle to us as practitioners
8. The company just seems so solid.  (That’s a “Blink” – Malcolm Gladwell)

Care Credit has won my trust and respect over the past six years and my husband was using them before I came into the picture.  (I just took their utilization to the next level – and beyond.)If you still want to offer your patient’s the option to pay over time without financing their treatment yourself, or if you’d just like to receive a call from Care Credit to discuss how you can sign up, please e-mail me.  I can refer you and they will call you within 24 hours.  This company uses no sales pressure and I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about their services.  Just send me your practice name, address, the phone number you want them to call and the name of the person you want them to speak with.I’d also like to hear from you.  Will you continue to use outside financing firms, or will you allow this to burn you permanently?  If you’re not going to use outside firms again, will you extend credit to your patients yourself?

Posted under Dental Practice Management