Smile Starters Provides Affordable Pediatric Dental Coverage to Underserved Kids
Smile Starters Uses Kleer to Provide Affordable Pediatric Dental Care Coverage to Underserved Kids in North Carolina
About Smile Starters
Smile Starters is a 9 location, 40 dentist, pediatric practice in North Carolina. They provide high quality, affordable dental services to thousands of underserved children and young adults throughout the state. They have a strong belief that good dental health is an important ingredient to overall health. Smile Starters uses regular dental check-ups to maintain children’s oral health and to diagnose and treat dental problems early. They want their young patients to enjoy smiles that last a lifetime and their entire staff works towards achieving this goal.
Challenge
Smile Starters identified a population that did not qualify for government assistance and did not have access to employer-sponsored plans. As a result, these patients were noncompliant and only visited the practice if there was a real problem. They wanted to provide these patients with affordable dental care but found their options very limited.
At first, Smile Starters thought they could help this group of patients by offering a sliding fee schedule based on a family’s personal income. However, this process proved to be cumbersome, time-consuming, and embarrassing for the patients’ parents and guardians. To enroll in this program, these parents and guardians were required to fill out an application and provide payroll information and tax forms as proof of income. The process was uncomfortable for both the practice team and their patients. Smile Starters realized this was not the long-term solution and began to look for a better solution that was easy to manage, flexible, and also treated their patients with respect.
Solution
Smile Starters researched membership plan programs and chose Kleer to design and launch their own membership plan. Implementation was easy and the team was excited about the flexibility and convenience offered by the Kleer platform. With Kleer, Smile Starters had the ability to customize their pediatric plans based on the needs of their patients.
Their goals were fairly simple:
- Provide affordable, quality dental care to children in North Carolina
- Treat parents and guardians with the respect they deserve
- Minimize staff support and cost
Membership Plan Details
- Smile Starters created three Pediatric care plans customized with treatment protocols and pricing for different age groups. (For example, the Babies and Toddlers plan is designed for children ages 1 to 3. It is the lowest priced plan and includes facial photographic images instead of x-rays).
- Provide a 50% discount off preventative care so children will come in for their semi-annual cleanings and exams, maintain their oral health, and catch any dental issues before they become costly problems
- Provide a 20% discount off additional procedures so parents and guardians can afford recommended treatment for their children
- Provide a monthly payment plan so parents and guardians can better budget and manage their family dental care expenses
- Utilize Kleer marketing materials to promote the membership plan in their office, on their web site, and in social media
Results
The membership plan is very popular with parents, guardians, and the Smile Starters team. Parents and guardians appreciate the simplicity of the sign-up process and the affordability of the plan. The Smile Starters team feels great offering the plan to parents and guardians because it enables their children to get the oral care they need. And the team spends very little time administering the plan. Launching the plan was very easy with the help of the Kleer Success Team. They have also found the Kleer Practice Portal to be simple to use and the Kleer Success Team always available to answer their questions.
In the first 4 months, 276 patients enrolled in the membership plan, generating $70,656 of recurring subscription revenue. That’s an annual run rate of 828 new members and $212,000 in recurring subscription revenue! In addition, these patients will be more loyal to Smile Starters, more committed to hygiene visits and will accept more treatment, resulting in better patient health outcomes and improved practice performance!
The mission of Smile Starters is to provide access to affordable dental care to the underserved youth of North Carolina. With Kleer that is more possible than ever. With the Kleer platform, our office teams have the ability to design care plans based on the needs of their patients. So now these kids get the dental care they need and hopefully avoid any bigger issues down the road. And parents love it because it's easy to sign up and it doesn't break the bank. Also, the Kleer Success Team is pretty awesome. They are responsive, really listen to us and have been there every step of the way. Three cheers for Kleer.
-Maureen Shiroma, Practice Manager, Smile Starters
