We are headed to the North American Dental Sleep Medicine Symposium (NADSM) this week. One of the big challenges facing Dental Sleep Medicine (DSM) is payment. Whereas general dentistry patients usually have insurance or know they’ll be cash pay, for sleep apnea patients it’s murky.
- Will their insurance cover a portion?
- What was the result of their sleep test?
- Who ordered it and in what state?
- Are they a ‘CPAP’ fail’?
Ay caramba!! It’s complicated, and complication means delays and wasted time for the dentist.
Well, I’ll be sharing good news with NADSM attendees. We are now offering our DSM clients a solution to help get those questions addressed early so that patients come in the door engaged, informed and qualified.
The general dentistry patient journey looks like this, pretty standard stuff – they find a dentist, they do their research, they come in, they pay, they leave a review and ‘Shazam’!:
General Dentistry Patient Journey
The DSM journey is trickier. First, the patient has to learn that a dentist can even treat sleep apnea. Once that hurdle is overcome, then there is the slippery payment issue:
Sleep Apnea Patient Journey
Imagine that early in the process they find the practice online and can interact with the doctor or coordinator live (well, not really live, that’s the beauty). During the “live” interaction, they are invited to tell the doctor about their sleep status (test/no test, AHI, no CPAP/CPAP fail, insurance or cash pay) via a short video. At the doctor’s leisure (not during precious clinic hours) the doctor is able to introduce the patient to their practice, answer a few questions, and invite the patient to come in and chat with a coordinator for more details.
This saves everyone time, and more importantly, allows the doctor or coordinator to make a quick, but lasting impression on a potential patient.
We are excited to demo this solution at NADSM!