While some Naturopathic Doctors can and do accept certain types of insurance, many either can’t because of their state laws or won’t because they don’t want the hassle of dealing with the insurance companies and instead opt for an all cash practice, which is great. (I’m a big fan of having a cash only practice)
The downside of a cash practice is how often people call and the first question is “Do you take insurance?”
One doctor in our ND Achievers Club asked a great question about how to handle this question on our coaching call recently – he can’t take insurance for naturopathic services because of where he is located – he put it like this:
“I get lots of calls from potential new patients and it goes like this:
Potential Patient: Do you take insurance?
Doctor: Sorry, No …
Potential Patient: Bye!
Click – opportunity lost!
I’ve tried various thing’s over the years, but it boils down to that scenario How can I handle this better?”
Folks, when people call you to ask if you take insurance, what are they really saying or asking?
They are saying:
- I have a health concern
- I am interested and want your help
- I am wondering if I can afford it
If you say “Sorry, no” … you are closing the door on that opportunity to help them.
In many cases some of services the patient will need might be covered by insurance such as lab tests or other services – or there is the possibility of giving them a superbill for them to try to get reimbursed directly. Also in other cases, patients would happily pay you directly for your services without insurance if they were confident that you can help them with their health concern.
So next time someone asks if you accept insurance , before you say “Sorry, no” and close the door on the opportunity, try another approach – what I call the AIR(R) approach: Acknowledge – Inquire – Reassure – (Optional Re-qualify)
Potential Patient: Do you take insurance?
(Inquire about their health concern)…tell me a little about what’s going on with your health that is causing concern?
… how long?
… how bad?
(Reassure them that you can help) I’ve helped a lot of patients overcome/cure/get relief from (symptom) and my approach as an ND is to identify the cause of the problem so it won’t come back … typically we would need to do some tests but my challenge is I don’t know enough about you and your symptoms yet to be able to diagnose your specific situation … to help us figure if I can help I offer a free 30 minute discovery session (or health evaluation) where we will do this, and this and this … once we have that done, I’ll know exactly what we need to do and I’ll be able to tell you what is typically covered by insurance, does that make sense?
How’s Day/Time? Book the appointment
A) That your insurance covers everything?
OR
B) That you eliminate the health problem even if insurance doesn’t cover everything?
(If they choose A – cancel appointment gracefully by letting them know they would have to pay for some of your services and that if insurance is most important that perhaps they should go to another care provider who can take their insurance)
Will this work for everyone? No of course not, some people simply can’t afford your services and need their insurance to pay for it and that’s ok. Those folks are not your ideal patient. But for others, more than you might expect, that type of conversation will show you care about them, remove the barrier to entry and let them move forward with an appointment. When you take that approach you have moved their focus away from money and insurance and onto the much more important issue of eliminating the health problem and getting better. You opened the door to a potential new patient relationship that, when treated right, should last for years.
Try it & let me know how it works for you, I’d love hear your results. Or if you have another approach that works for you, please share in the comments below…
Cheers,
Colm
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