Outpatient Surgery Magazine

over months or years. But if the patient misses a payment, the interest rate can shoot up to a ridicu- lous number, and it is charged retroactively, back to the first payment. Here are 5 key consid- erations when evaluating patient-financing options for your facility: 1. Approval rate. You want to approve as many patients as possi- ble. But approval varies widely depending on patient population, so you need to do your homework here. For cataract surgery patients, a group that tends to be older and have more established credit, the approval rate ranges from 60%-80%, says Katy Thomas, the vice presi- dent of marketing for Alphaeon Credit, a nation- wide patient financing provider. But for plastic sur- gery patients, who tend to be younger and have thinner credit files, you may be looking at approval rates as low at 30%-40%, says Ms. Thomas. Approval is also key from the facility perspec- tive — especially if a high percentage of your patients use a financing option. Just ask Barbara Getlan, RN, BSN, the nurse administrator at Dulaney Eye Institute in Towson, Md. "We do around 6,000 procedures (mostly cataracts) per year," Ms. Getlan says. "And 25%-30% of our patients use the healthcare credit card provider we've partnered with." It's a good idea to get a general idea of what your own patient approval rate is likely to be. Be specific. For example, if you're an orthopedic center, ask: "What's the aver- age approval rate for orthopedic procedures? says Ms. Thomas. Perhaps Tyler Crawford, the CEO of BHG Patient Lending, a financial company locat- ed in Syracuse, N.Y., that offers fixed-interest, long-term loans (5 years) for patients with all types of credit, sums up the importance of high patient approval best when he says: "If your lender is only set up to approve a certain por- tion of your patients, you're cutting off an entire population. And chances are, they're your most credit-needy patients." 2. Credit limit. You should be able to offer patients at least a $3,000 credit line with whatever patient financing compa- ny you choose; that's a standard starting point. "If you need to go above this amount, some lenders will struggle," says Ms. Thomas, "because it's not their sweet spot." You're going to want your average procedure fee to corre- spond to the credit limit you can offer via patient financing. So if your procedure fees are well above this $3,000 benchmark, you may have to look at a more niche type of vendor. For example, there are vendors that only target patients with flawless credit and offer credit lines of $40,000 and above. Again, when it comes to a vendor, you want to ask questions that will get you the type of information you need — such as, What is the average credit limit for patients at [insert the specialty at your facility]? 3. Fees. Arguably the most difficult part of selecting a patient financing option centers on fees. "It's a balancing act," says Ms. Thomas. "You 4 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A U G U S T 2 0 1 9 • BY THE BOOK The patient financing company you select should provide your staff with a word-for-word script on the best ways to introduce a financing option to patients.

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