FAQ for Cloud Dentistry Members
What is Cloud Dentistry Members and why are Membership Programs becoming more popular?
A “Membership Program” is an in-house benefit plan(s) that patients can enroll in, to become members of the dental office. Once a member, the patient is opted into member-specific benefits offered by their dental practice. Generally, the patient’s preventive care is included within the cost of the membership, and they will receive discounts on additional treatment. The cost of the membership plan(s) and the discounts offered are determined by the dental office. Cloud Dentistry offers this service through the Members tab for subscribing accounts.
Dental offices are implementing membership programs to:
Help cut ties with dental insurance
Increase access to care for those uninsured
Retain patients who are self-pay
Increase case acceptance for dental treatment
Create subscription revenue
Increase the value of their practice upon time of sale
What is the Cloud Dentistry Members Perk?
Cloud Dentistry Members is a feature available to subscribing offices that dental offices can use to automate, market, and scale their own in-house, membership program.
The product is white-labeled, including all marketing material. Patients will not associate their plan with Cloud Dentistry, but rather with their dental office.
The Members tab for subscribing offices tracks all aspects of the member program:
Member count
Revenue & projected revenue
Members’ plan information
CD Members Perk allows offices to automate their patients’ membership payments, and track their program.
What kind of membership plans can offices offer?
The Cloud Dentistry Members Perk allows for 100% customization for plan creation. Offices are able to offer:
Standard, preventive care plans that include routine hygiene visits, and discounts on additional treatment. Example:
Child Care Plan
Adult Care Plan
Advanced Adult Care Plan (periodontal maintenance pts.)
A flat membership fee that does not include preventive care, but rather allows for membership discounts on treatment
Warranty programs
Whitening memberships
Botox memberships, and more!
If our office already has an in-house membership program that we manage manually, why would I use the Cloud Dentistry Members offering?
For offices that manually manage their own membership program, they generally experience the following problems:
Inability to offer monthly membership plans
Inability to know how many members they have
Inability to understand how much revenue their membership program is generating
Inability to know if their membership program is growing
Missed membership payments, which can lead to offering discounts on services for inactive members
Missed revenue due to patients rescheduling appointments and coming back to the practice at a later date
Inability to auto-renew memberships, leading to the office needing to “re-sell” the value of the plan every year
For offices that already have a membership program they manually manage, Cloud Dentistry will import their current membership plan and members’ information, so the program can be automated moving forward.
How would my office get our current membership program into Cloud Dentistry?
Our team at Cloud Dentistry will configure an office’s current plan(s) in their dashboard. The office can then begin enrolling patients within their dashboard, and/or we can upload their current members’ data. If offices would like us to import their current members’ data, then we would supply the office with a template Google Sheet for them to submit their current members’ information. Once we’ve received the office’s Google Sheet with their members’ information, we will import their current members into their dashboard. From there, the office will be able to key in credit card information within their members’ profiles, to enjoy automated membership payments moving forward. Any additional patients who enroll in the office’s membership program moving forward would be signed up through Cloud Dentistry Members.
Our office has never had a membership program before. How does member pricing work?
The benefit to using Cloud Dentistry Members is we don’t dictate how offices should price their plan(s), unlike in-network insurance and discount plans. We have Membership Consultants who are happy to help provide direction, but the office has the ultimate say.
Within the “Members” tab of your dashboard, there are 3 template plans that are based on national averages; however, these templates are entirely customizable. We encourage offices to take into account the following things when considering how to price their plan(s):
Patient demographic
Current UCR fees
Current relationship with dental insurance & how that affects their UCR fees
Realistic auto-renewal price points (monthly and yearly)
Surrounding offices’ plans, if applicable
Is there an enrollment fee for patients when they enroll?
Cloud Dentistry Members does not require an enrollment fee.
However, if an office wants to require an enrollment fee, we can accommodate this.
The office would simply charge their enrollment fee after the patient has enrolled, through their member profile
Why should offices offer monthly plans?
Offering monthly plans increases patient retention, and generates subscription revenue for your practice.
The average collection rate for monthly plans is 96%, higher than the average collection rate for yearly plans at 92%.
Since monthly plans are automated, there is no additional manpower to manage.
We understand that offering yearly plans seems easier “to manage”, but this can limit your membership program’s growth. Studies prove that monthly subscription services have become ingrained in everyday life, they continue to gain wallet share from consumers, and the majority of people are less aware of the associated spending. For families, this is an affordable option, and will increase patient acceptance rates.
Monthly memberships are still a 12 month term. This is disclosed to the member within the terms of service, inside their enrollment confirmation email.
By default, your office settings are set-up to charge any monthly memberships, the first 3 months in advance. This setting can be removed in your general settings, or on a case-by-case basis.
Your monthly plans’ price does not have to be the yearly price, divided by 12. Some officers choose to apply a small discount on the yearly price.
What happens if a member’s card on file isn’t processing their monthly member payment?
Stripe, the payment processor, automatically recovers payments 3 ways (read more here)
Smart Retries: Stripe will attempt to process the payment four (4) times within 21 days based on optimal time, customer, card, and charge-specific properties.
Smarter Saved Cards: Stripe works with card networks and automatically attempts to update saved card details whenever a customer receives a new card
Failed Payment emails: Your members receive a “failed payment” email, directing them to update their card on file, within their patient portal.
Your office will also receive “membership failed payment” emails. Your team is able to update the member’s card on file, through the member’s profile.
Memberships will automatically cancel if a payment has not been successfully processed by Stripe, within 21 days after payment due date
Can a member cancel?
Members can only cancel by talking with their office, and if a team member within the office cancels their membership through their member profile.
Members can not cancel within their patient portal
Members can not call Cloud Dentistry and cancel. Cloud Dentistry will direct patients back to the office.
A patient’s membership will cancel, however, if Stripe is unable to collect payment within 21 days of their membership due date, after the automated “Failed Payment Process” has run its course. (Please see #9 to view the “Failed Payment Process”)
Can/Should offices offer their patients membership refunds?
Offering refunds to members is entirely up to the office.
Yearly and monthly memberships are both 12 month terms, from the date of enrollment. This is explained in the member’s terms of service, that is accessible within their confirmation email at the time of enrollment.
Should your office decide to issue refunds, this can be done within the patient’s profile, within the office’s dashboard. Refunds will be processed through Stripe.
What is the cost for Cloud Dentistry Members?
Members is free to activate within the “Members” tab for subscribing offices. Offices will be able to enroll a certain number of patients at no charge, and any additional patients enrolled will cost $1/member/month. The amount of free members they can enroll is determined by their monthly subscription to Cloud Dentistry. For example, if the office’s membership is $67/month, the office can have 67 active members before they’re charged. Offices with a free Cloud Dentistry account must have an active subscription to access the Members tab.
Are there processing fees for the patient’s membership?
Processing fee: 2.99%+30 cents/transaction
The processing fee is automatically deducted, and goes to Stripe.
All revenue information is visible to the office in the “Revenue” page of the dashboard.
If an office wants to recover Stripe’s processing fee, they could choose to:
Implement a “Member Enrollment Fee” - the fee would be determined by the office and charged through their members’ profiles.
Increase their plans’ price by using Stripe’s Fee Calculator
Is there a start-up fee for offices activating Member plans?
No.
Is there a contract for offices using Member plans?
The contracted term will match the subscription term the office chose with Cloud Dentistry.
Is marketing material provided for offices, and does it cost extra?
Yes, marketing material is provided upon request, and it does not cost extra:
A custom branded landing page (website) is provided, and can be connected to the office’s website and social platforms, which will be mobile friendly for patients to view.
This allows patients to view and enroll in their office’s membership plan online.
A website widget is provided to install on the office's websites:
The widget reads: “No Dental Insurance? This is better. Click here.”
The widget directs the viewer to the office’s landing page
A QR code that directs patients to the office’s landing page
The QR code is incorporated within the office’s provided flyer, trifold, and/or card.
Additional materials available will include: custom flyers, trifolds, cards, patient notification letters, and more.
Is training provided for offices? Does this cost extra?
Yes, a Membership Plan Consultant is available to train offices, as well as any new team members that join at any time. There is no additional charge for training at any point in time. We can train on the following:
How to create Membership Plans
How to navigate the Members dashboard
The importance of a Membership Plans
How to communicate what a Membership plan is to patients, to increase enrollment
Do you offer customer support?
Yes. Our customer support team can be reached via:
Chat box - located within the office’s Cloud Dentistry dashboard
Email: service@clouddentistry.com
Support hours are: 8:00am - 6:00pm ETS
What’s the difference between Cloud Dentistry Members and other competitors?
Our Member offering is included within Cloud Dentistry subscription plans, which allows for free activation. You will also be able to enroll a number of patients, that's equivalent to your monthly subscription cost.
Other membership platforms charge:
An average of $250/month
An average of $5/member/month
Keep a % of the membership revenue, sometimes as high as 50%
Is the Members offering HIPAA compliant?
Yes
Why does Stripe ask for my Social Security number?
By law, Stripe must ask for your SSN to make sure you are who you say you are, and that you're authorized to act on behalf of an entity (your PTA, organization, or business). Your SSN is for identity verification ONLY; Stripe is federally required to officially know someone connected to the account